FDA to recruit 11 officers to detect DPCO violation. Rajasthan drug control dept to recruit 11 officers in State Price Monitoring and Resource Unit (PMRU) to detect drug price violation
Following setting up of the State Price Monitoring and Resource Unit (PMRU), the Rajasthan FDA to recruit 11 officers to detect DPCO violation in the state.
Through the PMRU, NPPA will closely work with the state drug regulator to detect DPCO violation over pricing of medicines.
The officials leading the PMRU will report their findings to the NPPA directly in case they find any pharmaceutical company selling the drugs above the ceiling price fixed by the NPPA.
Informs Rajasthan drug controller Raja Ram Sharma, “A team of 10 officers led by a senior scientific officer would be deputed in the drug control headquarters in Jaipur based on the monetary grant from the NPPA.”
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Training has also been given to the Rajasthan Drug Control Officers on how to conduct sample survey in the market of the respective drugs covered under and outside the Drug Prices Control Order- 2013 (DPCO- 2013).
“We will also be forming teams zone wise of Drug Control Officers to effectively implement DPCO- 2013 on all the 33 districts of Rajasthan and the actions to be taken upon its violation,” assistant drug controller Manoj Tongra further explains.
The Rajasthan drug control department had formed the PMRU recently with approval from state medical education and drug department (MED).
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Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and, Himachal Pradesh fall under the category A states with reference to the allocation of budget for the same.
NPPA has categorised states based on three categories, i.e. based on maximum, minimum and least number of pharma companies for rationalising division of work.
Government has earmarked an amount of Rs. 67 lakh for all category A states in the country of which Rs. 7 lakh has been earmarked for infrastructure and equipment, Rs. 19 lakh for manpower, Rs. 24 lakh for training, Rs. 12 lakh for data collection and sampling and Rs. 5 lakh as contingency fund.
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This comes close on the heels of Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) having set up PMRU and has kick started its operations across 33 districts to track price violations.
Gujarat FDCA appointed a project co-ordinator having a Pharm-D qualification for the first time in the country. The project co-ordinator will be assisted by three field investigators to check price violations in real time and seamless manner backed by an information technology (IT) set up.
As of today, PMRUs have already been established in nine states including Rajasthan like Gujarat, Kerala, Odisha, Punjab, Haryana, Nagaland and Tripura with the latest entrant being Uttar Pradesh (UP).
PMRU is aimed at keeping a tab on drug price ceiling violation and to ensure that the purpose of the DPCO-2013 is achieved effectively and in a proper manner.
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