Himachal: Drugs Controller not appointed, working of pharma units suffers

Ambika Sharma

Solan, January 29

The indecisiveness of the state government in appointing a new State Drugs Controller (SDC) after superannuation of the incumbent on December 31 is adversely affecting the working of the pharmaceutical industry.

Manufacturers plan stir in Shimla

Fed up with repeated pleas to the health minister and the state government, the pharmaceutical manufacturers are now planning to protest at Shimla if the official was not appointed by January 31. — Rajesh Gupta, president, himachal drugs manufacturing association (hdma)

“Despite airing problems like halt on various permissions to facilitate exports in World Health Organisation-approved units for the last four weeks, the state government is indifferent to our problems,” said a pharma manufacturer who did not want to be quoted.

The absence of the State Drugs Controller has put on hold tendering of such medicines which have to be manufactured for such kendras.

“Fed up with repeated pleas to the health minister and the state government, the pharmaceutical manufacturers are now planning to agitate at Shimla if the official was not appointed till January 31,” asserted Rajesh Gupta, president, Himachal Drugs Manufacturing Association (HDMA).

More than 50 per cent of the drug samples, declared substandard nationally by the national drugs regulator December, are manufactured in the pharmaceutical units of Himachal. Actions like product recall of batches found substandard, issuance of show cause notices to erring units and further action are on hold in the absence of an State Drugs Controller.

Notwithstanding tall claims of the state government for speeding up clearances to facilitate the industry, the pharmaceutical industry is in the limbo because of the absence of the SDC. The incumbent is responsible for according product licenses and product approvals to all pharmaceutical industry whose names begin from A up to alphabet J. A large number of pharmaceutical companies like Alembic, Abbott, Cadila, Cipla, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Galpha Laboratories, Glenmark, Dabar, etc. are the major suffers.

Several of these companies figures among the top pharmaceutical units of the nation. Issues like license renewal can halt all manufacturing processes in a unit. Similarly, approval for manufacturing a product can delay the domestic as well as export-oriented consignments as products can’t be manufactured without its approval. Deputy Drugs Controller (DDC) Manish Kapoor is the senior-most official followed by Garima Sharma, who is also a DDC.