Last Updated on January 6, 2024 by The Health Master
In order to bring more efficiency into the administration of the state drugs control department, the government of Tamil Nadu has redesigned the organizational structure of the department by creating 10 new zonal offices after dividing the existing 14 zones. Now the number of total zones is 24.
Along with this, the government has created 10 additional posts of assistant director of drugs control (ADDC) and increased the strength of ministerial staff to be deployed in each new office.
The minister for health and family welfare, Dr C Vijaybhaskar announced this policy decision of the government in the state Assembly recently, authorized the director of the DCA to work out on the project.
Government has issued an order in this regard and sanctioned an amount of Rs 3.82 crore towards expenditure of the offices creation and deputation of staff.
According to highly placed sources in the health department, the government hopes that creation of more zonal offices will improve the efficiency of the drugs control administration and help for better enforcement of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940, Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945, Medical Devices Rules 2017 and other drug related legislations towards public safety.
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Commenting on the new development, M Sivabalan, the director of the TN DCA, said the new 10 zonal offices will be created after dividing the existing 14 zones. Each zonal office will be headed by an assistant director of drugs control. He said, he has drafted a proposal and submitted it to the government who accepted it with partial modification.
The present zones I, II, III and IV in Chennai district have been divided into five zones. The existing Salem zone has been divided into three zones, namely Salem East zone, Salem West zone and Dharmapuri zone.
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Similarly, three new zones have been carved out of the existing Trichy zone. They are Trichy east zone, Trichy west zone and Villupuram zone. Thanjavur zone has been bifurcated into Thanjavur and Pudukottai zones.
Coimbatore North, Coimbatore South and Erode zones have been created after dividing the existing Coimbatore zone.
In the south, the Madurai zone has been divided into two, Madurai north zone and Madurai south zone. In addition to this, one Mobile squad under the supervision of an ADDC has been formed in Madurai and it would be considered as a separate zonal office.
Existing Thirunelveli zone has been bifurcated into two, Thirunelveli south zone and Thirunelveli north zone. Meanwhile the Virudhunagar zone has been renamed as Tuticorin zone.
According to the director of the DCA, work for the restructuring and reclassification of new zones and deployment of officials will be completed in one month’s time.
It is expected that the drugs control administration with 24 zonal offices will start functioning from March 15 onwards, said Sivabalan.
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