Minister Satya Kumar Inaugurates New State Drug Testing Lab in Vijayawada

Vijayawada: Health minister Satya Kumar inaugurated a newly established state drug testing laboratory as well as the head office building of the Drugs Control Administration (DCA) in Vijayawada on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister said efforts of the NDA government in the last two years in the state have helped improve collection of drug samples from the medical shops and pharmaceutical companies. He pointed out that this helps curb release of any drugs that are not of standard quality.

Satya Kumar charged that during the previous YSR Congress regime, only 4,000 samples of drugs used to be tested for quality. With the inauguration of the new lab in Vijayawada, they will be able to test 13,000 samples of drugs per annum. He maintained that there is the need for filling up of posts. He assured that efforts will be made to take up recruitment after holding talks with the Finance department.

The minister congratulated the DCA for enhancing their vigil on drugs of substandard quality in the market. He pointed out that the vigil has resulted in a decrease in presence of not-of-standard-quality drugs to 1.02 per cent from 2.13 per cent earlier.

Satya Kumar disclosed that the Drugs Control Administration would be linked with the Institute of Preventive Medicine to help identify drugs not of standard quality and initiate necessary action to curb their supply.

Principal secretary (Health) Suresh Kumar called for enhanced collection of samples of prominent drugs used by the people in the state. At the same time, he advised authorities not to trouble stakeholders unnecessarily. He advocated transparency in DCA functioning through digitalisation.