“May all beings be happy; may all beings be healthy; may all beings see beauty everywhere; may all beings be free from suffering,.” This inspiring sanskrit verse was quoted by Dr HG Koshia, FDCA Commissioner, Gujarat in his address. He said that this is the vision that the public health fraternity needs to have in order to make the nation healthy.
He also gave an overview of the pharma sector of Gujarat and said, “in terms of pharma output, around one-third of the country pharma products comes from our state. Gujarat caters to 28 per cent of the country’s pharma exports. Moreover, Gujarat’s pharma sector caters to 20 per cent of the global population,” he informed.
Koshia then spoke on the relevance of regulatory practices in ensuring value-based public healthcare delivery and gave a rundown on the initiatives by the government to protect public health. He said that the role of the Food and Drug Control Administration is to ensure high standards of products such as medicines, medical devices, diagnostic labs, food products and cosmetics. In term of public health the FDA play an pivotal role in assuring the quality of medicines.
Elaborating on the regulatory practices impletmented in his state to ensure safe medicines for all, Koshia informed that they keep a watchful eye on the pharma sector, curb the circulation of spurious medicines floating in the market as well as punish offenders of law. He also informed that Gujarat was the first state to get National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accreditation for their FDA testing lab.
He also mentioned that their state has the highest surveillance rate when it comes to FDA inspections. Infact, in 2013-14 Gujarat was among the top states for conducting drug sample tests. Koshia said that they had achieved highest efficiency in their operations by utilising technology. He also gave examples of how they integrate mobile app in their operations. He said, “We maintain a transparent, accountable system and focus on providing immense information to the public at large in order to empower patients.”
Key takeaways
- Gujarat caters to 28 per cent of the country’s pharma exports
- Gujarat’s pharma sector caters to 20 per cent of the global population
- There is a need to maintain a transparent, accountable system and focus on providing information to the public
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