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`Work on project to upgrade drug testing soon'

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI JUNE 8. The Union Government would soon commence work on a Rs.90-crore project to upgrade testing and training capacities in the drug sector, the Drugs Controller-General of India, Aswini Kumar, said here today.

Briefing presspersons ahead of an Indian Pharmaceutical Association programme, being held here, Mr. Aswini said the World Bank-funded project would help enhance drug-testing methods and reduce the time period for testing from six months to one month. At least one lakh samples could then be tested every year.

The capacity building project would include training programmes for all state drug regulatory authorities, quality control personnel and small scale manufacturers, he said.

On reports of spurious drugs adulterating the market, he said the Centre evolved guidelines for States to strengthen their surveillance mechanism and monitoring activities. It includes constitution of state-level intelligence cells and conducting training programmes for drug authorities.

Mr. Aswini said the Centre was also creating a computerised network of all state drug authorities to ensure better exchange of information, especially with regard to surveillance.

A journal on `Community Pharmacy', released by the IPA today, quotes a WHO report which states that 26 per cent of the drugs sold in India are spurious and counterfeit.

The chairperson of the IPA community pharmacy division, R. Srinivasan, said there was an urgent need for pharmacists to improve quality of services, and for a change in mindset from mere selling of drugs to dispensing medicines.

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