039. Kerala's E-Health In Dark Shadows

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Kerala’s E-Health In Dark Shadows

By Special Correspondent

E Health is new to Kerala State in India and, considering the strange avenues into which massive corruption has penetrated into, we have decided to closely follow the state’s activities in this field from the very beginning to as far as we can follow in time and space such that when something happens good or bad, no one will have to wonder. When corruption occurs in large scale in this field which surely will and e-health in Kerala reported to be in shambles and disarray, there will certainly be investigations but within that time, millions of rupees will have gone. We wish to report things from the beginning so that we can pinpoint persons who were responsible when considerable amounts money are lost from public funds. We certainly will have repercussions, oppositions and even retaliation from those involved, which we do expect, which also we hope to report through these pages.

The centres of activities in implementing this project in Kerala are the Health Secretary’s office in Government of Kerala in the Secretariate, the Directorate of Health Services and the Mission Directorate of the National Rural Health Mission, all situated in Trivandrum. The first thing which was got done by those involved was getting prepared a report on the possibilities and scope of implementing e-health in Kerala which, we believe, was commissioned out to persons not in this field. This report got approved and then what we heard was media news about some funds being brought to Kerala, allocated by the Government of India. (We, in these columns earlier have reported the same). Some reported it to be 97 crores and some said it was only 92 crores but all wondered in secret where the balance did go, considering the usual rate of ten percent realized by political agents in India for getting a project approved and financed. Government of India usually allots 100 crores. It is inconceivable that the full amount reached Kerala, if it did, in contradiction to North Indian standards. Or has our country progressed beyond being a puritan state?

All digital health activities in a state will have to be controlled and monitored from a single centre, to minimize theft of confidential patient data which is costly and which would be beneficial to a multitude of commercial organizations from insurance companies to health psychic predictors. We will be startled at the incompetence and lack of imagination with which the Directorate of Health Services operates its own simple website, let alone the massive and complicated encrypted data flow in connection with e-health governance. It is a crude website where people cannot interact; data are scanty, incomplete and unreliable, what shall be there is not there and what shall not be there is there, data never updated since inception and pages will not open and if they open will have only a few irrelevant sentences. We enquired and learned that there was no one there to do these things except temporary hands lent by peripheral institutions. No one can believe that such gross neglect and ignorance can be engaged to monitor the digital clinical maneuvers in the whole state, unless the same is outsourced-something feared in even England, United States, France and Germany. Insurance companies alone will spend a million dollars to see central stores of people’s health data established. Let us take the example of the E-Health Link in the DHS’ web site:

Since the starting of this digital front of the state’s health in 2013, the E-Health link remains skeletally maintained and laughable; it has no important data or information to display. See a snap-shot of this page as on 19 March 2014 which is self-revealing. There is not mention of the important things in the field that have happened! The importance is laid not in enlightening people on this new subject which even these ‘authorities’ know nothing about and which is going to affect people’s lives every way, but on how the 92 crores could be spent safely without public interference.

An Expression of Interest in May 2013, an inevitable corrigendum six days after, four ridiculous queries the same month- this was all. And it was the month of the greatest digital activity in this Directorate- or that was what they wished to make public. Five Months later, in October 2013, there was application invited for the post of Manager but no mention of who applied for and who was selected.  

The Expression of Interest was posted on 3 May 2013 with a deadline on 18 October 2013 with no mention after the deadline of who expressed interest and who were approved and short-listed. Note that this was a period in Kerala when the greatest number of fraudulent people and organizations submitted bids and took part or collaborated in heavily-funded government projects, with Solar Scam in the lead. No wonder the names of people who expressed interest in government’s e-health project could not be publicized!

Things are dubious and large amounts of public money are involved. Why permit them to steal away people’s money in leisure instead of going after them and following every move? We know that there is a Vigilance Wing in the Directorate of Health Services, administered by an Additional Director of Health Services who does nothing but hunt petty lowly employees like Hospital Attendants, Nursing Assistants, Nurses and Clerks. How many doctors and officers of authority did they found out guilty and charged in the past 25 years? Their main duty is to hand over the names of those who report corruption and misdeeds to reported culprits, their actual subordinates! Never did they detect something in their own initiative without someone reporting or complaining. That is the same situation with the government’s vigilance department. No one in vigilance detects something on their own account. Everything has to be detected by people or newspaper reporters and details conveyed to them. Then they will investigate, reluctantly.

So it is now our own duty to detect and report, which we shall do; let us see what they do to charge-sheet and punish them, if there happens to be something punishable. We, decided to follow two routes- private investigation and the broad route of the Right to Information Act. What our private investigations revealed shall be reported to you readers later in its time but we find it nothing inappropriate to publish in time to time what we found out via the broad path.

Here is our original Registered Letter to the concerned Public Information Officers on 20 March 2014. We think these questions we asked are pertinent, which everybody may wish to ask:

Application for information under the Right to Information Act

To

The Public Information Officer,

Government of Kerala, Secretariate, Trivandrum.

Department of Health and Family Welfare,

Government of Kerala, Secretariate, Trivandrum.
Directorate of Health Services, Trivandrum.
Directorate of National Rural Health Mission, Trivandrum.

Dear Sir,

I request you to kindly make available to me under the Right to Information Act, in writing, the following information which is not classified, within the prescribed time limit. I have affixed Rs.10/ worth of Court Fee Stamps as fees.

Does Kerala State Government wish to implement E Health in Kerala?

If yes, which are the agencies/offices through which it is to be implemented? Have the Government of Kerala Collaborators/ Nodal Agencies for formulating/implementing this project?

Did Government of Kerala or any of its departments/offices/collaborators receive any funds from anywhere for formulating, developing or implementing E Health project, and if so, who is the custodian of this fund? Please give name and full official and postal address.

If funds were received or offered, which were the sources of such funds? Please give specific details of communications allowing/releasing/offering of such funds.

Were any amounts from the funds transferred to any individuals/ establishments/ organizations on account of fees, services, salaries, honorarium and/or allowances? If so, please give the mode of payment, their names and full postal addresses and reasons for transfer of money, along with details of cheques, demand drafts and acquittances.

Were any advertisements given in any media inviting Expression of Interest on this project, and if so, where? What were the dead lines and who were the persons/institutions/organizations who expressed their interest? Please give full postal addresses.

Did the names and addresses of those who expressed interest in the project published in media where the original invitation for EOI was advertised, and if not, why? Where else was it published?

Which are the posts created for implementing this project? Please give full pay scales, incentives and other perks.

Where were advertisements inviting applications to these posts published? Please give specific links and dead lines.

Who were selected for each post? Please give their names, full postal addresses and the last institutions where they served with name of designation and period of service there. Were their names and posts published anywhere?

Which posts are yet/proposed to be created in connection with this project and when and where are they going to be advertised?

Please include names and addresses of Appealing Authorities also in your reply.

Sincerely Yours,

P.S.Remesh Chandran, Padmalayam, Nanniyode,
Pacha Post, Trivandrum-695562, Kerala.
Dated: 20 March 2014.

We sent these requests by registered post, and they have 30 days time to give us their answer, if they give in time which is unusual. We will wait and post their replies here, along with papers of appeal if it goes up to there. Meanwhile we will see what other things happen in this field.

Here is a book being announced and we would like to add excerpts from the book here for the readers’ knowledge:

The RTI Letter we sent to The Public Information Officer, Government of Kerala, Secretariate, Trivandrum was returned by the Indian Postal Department, with the endorsement, ‘Not Sufficient Address’ and not with ‘There Is No Such Addressee’. We know government functions through its various departments, but why as a single entity government did not appoint a Public Information Officer? It is dubious. A delivery postman, as per rules, cannot determine in his office whether the designation exists or not or whether the concerned officer would accept it or not, provided the name of the government office and the place where it functions is printed in the address. He certainly has to take the letter to that office. So we shall assume the postman did take the letter to the office but the officer-in-charge declined to accept the letter. What right has a government officer to reject a letter from a citizen addressed to government, on the basis of whatever technical grounds? Even if a citizen does not mention the Right to Information Act in his letter, is not the government liable to convey the information he requested?

The Department of Health and Family Welfare sent a reply signed by one Mr. Sudarsanan, Additional Secretary, which stated that ‘the Government of Kerala implemented the e-health through the National Rural Health Mission and details are available with them’. Does not this department have a Public Relation Officer to reply to RTI letters and why is that designation absent in this reply? He did convey information on point number 1 but omitted point numbers 2 to 10. If government is implementing E-Health in Kerala, why are not details available with Government of Kerala but only with NRHM which is not Kerala Government’s? What kind of a government and what kind of an administration is that? Why are details not available in Secretariate, the seat of government? Are details of E Health available in Secretariate or not? Or is this dubiousness to hide facts or prevent contradictory information from being released from two sources, i.e. from Government and NRHM? These are the usual questions which rise in the minds of common man. We are certainly raising these issues of discrepancy with this department’s Appellate Authority. We are credibly informed that the bids mentioned in the beginning are being finalized on the extended date and things are being kept secret till then.

Shady Recruitment Procedures Adopted For Several E Health Posts.

Dubious advertisements appeared in equally dubious places, inviting applications to these posts. In one place, the How to Apply link leads to admissions section of the Manipal University and the CLICK HERE MORE DETAILS FOR THIS JOB link leads to http://dhs.kerala.gov.in/index.php/transfer where there is nothing about these posts. The DHS, NRHM and Arogya Keralam have nothing to show on these posts in their websites. It is an old trick- to advertise in places where no one will look and even if someone looks there, the links shall lead to nowhere. It is clear these posts are reserved for favourites, to be recruited through shadow agencies. And the posts do have handsome salary packages, in Kerala standards.

1. Finance Manager 50,000

2. Administration Manager 50,000

3. Technical Manager 50,000

4. Manager (Change Management) 50,000

5. Asst. Manager (Finance) 30,000

6. Asst. Manager (Admn) 30,000

7. Office Assistant 15,000

The following was one of the advertisements (or the only advertisement?) for these posts in e-health. It was online and it appeared in one of the shadiest of places:

‘Directorate of Health Services (DHS Kerala) hiring Managers & Office Assistant (CA/ ICWA, B Tech/ MCA, MBBS, B Com, Any Degree holders). Applications are invited for the following posts in the eHealth Project Management Unit (eHealth PMU) on contract/deputation basis. The contract basis appointment will be for a period of two years. Deputation basis appointments will be based on Government rules. Maximum age limit for posts 1 to 6 is 58 years and for post 7 is 40 years as on 01-01-2014. All the postings will be in Thiruvananthapuram.

Company Name: Directorate of Health Services (DHS Kerala)

Position: Managers & Office Assistant

Education: CA/ ICWA, B Tech/ MCA, MBBS, B Com, Any Degree

Experience: 3-10 yrs

Location: Kerala 

Applications may be send to State Mission Director, NRHM, General Hospital Junction, Trivandrum – 35 so as to reach the office on or before 12-03-2014.’

http://www.hirelateral.com/directorate-of-health-services-dhs-kerala-hiring-managers-office-assistant/

Who make money and who use government projects to do favours and repay favours received? So, that's why this great reluctance in conveying information under the right to information act. If what usually happens in Kerala happens in this project also, we will see that the relatives of the very authorities who were bound to give information out were undergoing the recruitment process. 

Updated as on 26 April 2014, 02:35 PM

So, as we feared, government do not know who the custodian of the 92 crores they gave is. The NRHM Directorate also does not know who the custodian of this amount is and how it is spent. See the reply from Smt. Vijayalekshmi P. Nair, Senior Administrative Assistant. We have to wait for months for an information which is available under the roof of a building adjacent to her own office building.

Updated as on 30 April 2014, 12:47 AM

Will continue.....Visit again

038. Release of E-Health Implications And Patient Data Theft.

Await release of this book

E-HEALTH IMPLICATIONS

AND MEDICAL DATA THEFT

To be released internationally

Author: P.S.Remesh Chandran

From this book:

* In the present circumstances, without internet there is no e-health. When internet fails, e-health fails. Even intra-institutional communications would come to a stop, nothing to say about inter-national communications and counseling. So, e-health is something which is totally dependent on and at the mercy of internet. Conventional health record storage and health care administering systems do not have this disadvantage or handicap. They have functioned smoothly or at least uninterruptedly, even during terrible war periods. Today, in times of international political and geographical turmoil like wars, it would be the digital communication systems of countries which would be the first attacked, destructed or hacked into. Each country has whole armies of experts for doing this. 

* Storing patient data electronically in the cyber space and prescribing by online is the concept of e-health. Recruiting, training and retaining technically advanced employees, purchasing and maintaining advanced equipment and setting up and maintaining a nation-wide system with all primary health care centres connected and updated need a huge budget of course, which only a few countries in this world can afford. Countries which cannot guarantee 24 hours’ uninterrupted power supply year-round and countries with no electricity at all needn’t even think about it. 

* Privacy of patient records and confidentiality of data has always been a concern while implementing e-health projects for which none has come up with a satisfactory solution till date. Once data leaves an archive and takes its flight along the online route, no one has been able to guarantee its privacy and confidentiality. That is why e-health is not enjoying wide acceptance and many orthodox and wise countries are staying away from this development. A responsible e-health manager ensures the flow of insecure diagnostic information and secure patient information. 

* E-Health is not a substitute for health care but only a digital system for recording, storing and retrieving medical data and monitoring health care of citizens. A virtual wound can be treated remotely and digitally but what about a physical bleeding wound? Perhaps a time may come when wounds could be laser-cauterized remotely but not anytime in the near future. 

     

037. Kerala Health Service being sold out wholesale to British.

Kerala govt to ink pact with London-based NICE to revitalize health sector in the state

By Pharma Biz

Peethaambaran Kunnathoor, Chennai
Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Amid reports that the health sector in Kerala is bedeviled by many problems that have led to reduction in quality of service delivery in certain health institutions, the state government has decided to ink a pact with the London based National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to revitalize the entire health services in the state.

The tie-up will be for the next three years and with the intervention of NICE, best standard could be maintained in all spheres of health sector in the state, said Rajeev Sadanandan, principal secretary, health, government of Kerala. He was speaking at the valedictory session of the pharmacists’ conference at Thiruvananthapuram recently. The total system will become in a systematic and proper way and separate guidelines for treatment, medicine, services of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other para medical professionals will come into force. In future, there will not be any variation in the treatment, he said.

NICE, an arm of the national health services of the UK government, provides independent, authoritative and evidence-based guidance on the most effective ways to prevent, diagnose and treat disease and ill health, reducing inequalities and variation.

“For the next three years, the department will be monitored by NICE, strict vigilance and standard can be maintained in each and every area of the health sector. They will carry out assessments of the most appropriate treatment regimes for different diseases. This will help the desired medical outcomes for patients. The use of new and existing medicines, treatments, clinical practice, guidance on treatment procedures, advice to patients and public sector workers on health promotion and ill-health avoidance will be provided by the experts of the organisation,” the health secretary said.

There are reports that the health sector in Kerala is bedeviled by many problems that have led to reduction in quality of service delivery in certain health institutions. Besides, unavailability of medicines in hospitals, high prices for essential drugs, inadequacy of sufficient staff and strikes by nurses have also affected the sector badly. The government is looking for a concrete solution to all these issues without chance for recurrence, it is learnt.

The health secretary said that in the next session of the state Legislative Assembly, the government will introduce the Clinical Establishment Bill which will standardize the fee being levied by private hospitals and clinical institutions for various services. Further, drug rationalization committee will also be formed in all district hospitals, which will prepare the list of medicines to be distributed under a scheme for providing generic drugs from November 1. In all the government hospitals in Kerala, generic medicines will be available on reasonable rates and a treatment protocol will also come into force from November, he added.

Regarding predicament of pharmacies in the hospital, the principal health secretary said he would look into the possibility of standardization of pharmacies and try to get accreditation from NABH for model pharmacies in the state. By receiving the set of guidelines prepared by the pharmacy council, he said the Council as well as the pharmacists association has to ensure the value addition to the health sector from their side.

Link: http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=70748&sid=1

Republished here by courtesy of Pharma Biz. Com


Comment:

There was an independent and reliable system of medicine-actually a system of a combination of ingenious and native treatment and nourishing system- existing in India before the British installed allopathy and revamped the field of Indian Medical Attendance. Today, almost all indigenous systems including the world famous ayurveda are ignored and neglected and only allopathy is being given importance and monopoly. In India, even now, poor people when they are sick, can still go to a government hospital and become healthy again, availing the benefits of the famous Free Indian Hospital System. It is when we have no money and therefore no nutrition that diseases afflict us. Therefore this free hospital system has been a great blessing to the Indian masses. It has been what sustained the people of India through their years of sickness. The money involved in retaining this system was people’s money, not the dowry money of Indian Health Authorities. It is the same money which funds the treatment of Government Ministers, MPs VIPs and Government Secretaries abroad; there is no shame in people regaining their health by availing free treatment. The very people in India who are directly partaking in bringing about this sale deed of a country's good will and charity are beneficiaries of this Free Indian Hospital System which they are going to abolish for ever. Which one of them does not receive free hospital care from government?

In the United Kingdom there is now no free hospital treatment. Either you pay money at the hospital or you pay money in advance for insurance. This is exactly what the British monitoring of Kerala Health Services Department is going to bring to Kerala. It is a full implementation of the British Health System, minus everything good in it. The first thing they are going to force without caring people’s resistance is abolishing every kind of free medical assistance. What is a collapsing British economy finding prospectful in extending managerial assistance to the health care sector of a thriving former colony, except exporting over-paid excess staff? -Editor-in-Chief.

036. Now anyone rich to study abroad can practice in India without tests.

Centre plans to allow overseas Indian medical graduates to practice without tests.

By Pharma Biz

Our Bureau, New Delhi
Friday, January 04, 2013

Centre is planning to amend the Medical Council of India (MCI) Act to allow  Indian doctors, who have graduated abroad, to practice in India without the mandatory tests and clearance.

A bill in this regard has been drafted by the Union health ministry which plans to push it during the Budget session of the Parliament, Union Health Secretary P K Pradhan disclosed at the ongoing Global Healthcare Summit in Kerala recently.

Soliciting ideas and partnerships from the private sector, Pradhan said the Government was planning to improve the secondary care by upgrading the district hospitals. “There is a huge scope for partnership with the private sector in the areas like diagnostic services and labs. We will encourage district hospitals to run medical college campuses to augment the capacity in PG education and private players can help in this area,” he said at the CEO Forum in connection with the meet.

Speaking on the occasion, managing director of Sami Labs Dr Muhammed said his company was inspired by Ayurveda, the mother of all sciences. “We have developed two natural drugs, one for glaucoma and another for treating psoriasis first time in the country. Three other drugs are in the pipeline,’’ he said.

DM Healthcare chairman Dr Azad Moopen suggested that the forum should be utilized to firm up concrete partnership, to begin with the idea of setting up medical colleges in each district. To achieve the inclusive growth, he also called upon the government to think of levying Sin tax on alcohol and even on soft drinks to part finance a proper social insurance scheme, a release said.

“On improving the quality, the Government can do it easily. Instead of voluntary systems of accreditation, government should make it mandatory for all clinical establishments to have certificates like that from NABH,” he argued.

Device Controller of India Dr Eswara Reddy, Chairman of Medical Council of India Dr K K Talwar, Principal Health Secretary in Kerala Shri Rajeev Sadanandan, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences medical director Dr Prem Nair, president of American Medical Association Dr Jeremy Lazarus, Health Attache from US Embassy in Delhi Mr Stevan Smith, Dr Rajan Badwe of Tata Institute, Dr Philip Augustine of Lakeshore Hospital, Mr Bob Miglani of Pfizer, Dr K M Cherian of Frontier Healthcare, Dr Neal Simon of American University of Antigua, Dr M Sahadulla of KIMS, Tridvandrum and Dr Faizal Khan of NIMS were among those to attend the high-profile meet.

Link: http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=73014&sid=1

Republished here by courtesy of Pharma Biz.Com

Comment: 

Some fathers will go to any extreme to make their nincompoop sons and daughters doctors, and they will get anyone’s help too. It was the dream of all low-grade medical students who study abroad to practice in India without undergoing the stringent tests and examinations of India- the hall mark of Indian medicine which placed Indian doctors in much demand abroad. Now that dream is being fulfilled by rich fathers who are in total control of authority.

035. Major pharma companies behind vigilance raid: Drug Control Officers.

Major pharma companies behind vigilance raid in drug control offices in Kerala: KSDCOA

By Pharma Biz. Com

Peethaambaran Kunnathoor, Chennai

Friday, August 17, 2012

The Kerala State Drugs Control Officers Association (KSDCOA) has said that the allegations being levelled against the state drug control administration by a section of the media on account of a state-wide vigilance raid at the drug control offices last week are baseless and ill-motivated.

According to the Association, there are certain major pharmaceutical companies behind the vigilance raid, against whom the department has recently initiated punitive action for violations of various sections in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act (D&C Act).

KSDCOA has admitted that a performance audit conducted at the DC offices by the office of the Accountant General last year had raised the eyebrows of the auditing officers on the functioning of the enforcement officers. The association said the reason for the AG’s criticisms were due to lack of awareness about legislation and ground realities.

The enforcement officers said Rule 63 of the drugs and cosmetics rules stipulates that once an application for renewal is received on time, the licence is deemed to be in force until the application is disposed off. So there is no need of worry in any way for the trader or dealer. However, they maintained that the reason for the delay in issuing the licence was shortage of staff in the offices.

Regarding delay in issuing test results of samples, the association said the D&C Act foresees no role for the drug control officers in testing of drugs, which is the duty and responsibility of the government analysts attached to the drug testing laboratory. But the officers have admitted that most of the test results are obtained after the drugs were consumed by the patients. Here also, the officers found the reason for the delay is shortage of staff, machinery and laboratories.

By reiterating the fact that the state authorities have no role in price fixation of drugs, the drug control officers said they have not shied away from taking punitive actions against the dealer whenever a case of charging of excess price or refusal of drugs was detected.

While admitting that there are instances of corruption in the department as in other spheres of life, they said several of the officers are doing honest job to keep the state free from spurious and sub-standard drugs. They claimed that Kerala drugs control department is the first government agency in the country to launch prosecution against the pharma companies which had refused supply of drugs to a section of traders at the instance of All Kerala Chemists & Druggists Association (AKCDA). The incessant flow of drugs to the state owned Karunya Community Pharmacies has taken place due to the intervention of the department by initiating action against AKCDA, the association opined.

Link: http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=70665&sid=1

Republished here by courtesy of Pharma Biz.Com

034. Vigilance raid in Kerala Drug Control Offices.

Vigilance dept conducts raids in drug control offices across Kerala

By Pharma Biz

Peethaambaran Kunnathoor, Chennai
Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Sleuths of the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC) in Kerala conducted simultaneous raids in all the Assistant Drug Controllers’ and Drug Inspectors’ offices across the state on August 10 following informal complaints of rampant corruption against drug control officers, said a senior officer in the DVAC.

The vigilance officer said the department was receiving a slew of complaints from the drug traders from all the districts on alleged demand of bribery by drug inspectors and senior officials for renewal of the traders’ licences and for test reports from labs. According to him the drug control officials are deliberately delaying the services of the concerned offices for not giving them money as bribe by the traders.

He said his team has seized Rs.11000 from a drug inspector’s pocket during the raid. More cases of corruption are being investigated and surprise raids will be conducted further in all the offices, if needed.

Speaking to Pharmabiz, the officer of the anti-corruption department said all the problems pertaining to the price, quality, standard and availability of drugs are occurred in the state due to the inefficient way of operations of the drug control department. He said the department’s lackadaisical attitude is the main cause for the distribution of sub-standard quality drugs in the state.

However, he admitted that there is heavy work load in analytical laboratory of the department because of shortage of staff, but renewal of licences is delayed for collecting money from traders.

The vigilance officer, who led the team in the capital for raid, said a drug inspector asks for Rs.1000 per week from each medical store and senior officers demand a sum of Rs.5000 to find solutions for the traders’ problems with the government. When asked whether such cases of corruption were received against ayurvedic drug inspectors, he said there were some cases.

When contacted, state drugs controller CS Satheesh Kumar said there are limitations in the facilities of the drug testing lab, hence the test reports are getting delayed. Regarding renewal of licences, he said once the application is given for renewal, the trader can go on with his business until the department releases the renewed certificate and the delay does not affect his business.

Further he said there is shortage of drug inspectors and analysts in the department, and once the new lab under construction in Kochi is commissioned, all the problems will be solved.

The anti-corruption bureau has termed the operation as ‘Operation Tablet’. The officials inspected some retail shops to find out any irregularity and took stock of the situation.

This was the first time the vigilance conducted a raid in all the offices of the DC administration in the state. DVAC will submit a comprehensive report on the state wide raid to the government shortly for further action.

Link: http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=70622&sid=1

Republished here by courtesy of Pharma Biz.Com

033. Do Not Build Drug Testing Labs So That Culprits Shall Escape.

Meagre allocation of funds by state govt holds up completion of Kochi drug testing lab

By Pharma Biz

Peethaambaran Kunnathoor, Chennai
Thursday, March 21, 2013

The plan to commission the second drug testing laboratory of the Kerala drugs control department, being constructed at Ernakulam, is unlikely to be a reality in the near future owing to paucity of funds for the project. Even the completion of the building work is being held up. 

The state government has allocated only Rs.2 crore in the budget for three proposed drug testing laboratories including the Kochi lab. But, even for the completion of the on-going work at Kochi lab requires a minimum of Rs.6 crore, sources from the health department told Pharmabiz.

The department of drugs control had submitted proposals to the government with a plan outlay for Rs.24 crore for all the three labs. For completing the on-going project of Kochi Lab, it submitted a proposal for Rs.8 crore and to start work for the other two laboratories at Thrissur and at Kozhikodu, two more projects of the same amount were submitted.

Unfortunately, the state government did not accepted any of the proposals putting the upcoming project at Kochi into trouble. Due to scarcity of funds, the work of the lab cannot be completed as expected and commissioning of it was slated for May this year but will be delayed, it is learnt.

“The work of the Kochi laboratory is moving at a snail’s pace. We expected a minimum of Rs.6 crore to complete the work and commissioning of the lab planned in May this year. But government has sanctioned only a meagre amount for this project. This means that work for other two labs is also not able to start this year. The only hope is the diversion of unutilised funds from other departments towards this purpose and we are waiting for that,” said an official close to the department.

Currently, the department has only one drug testing laboratory situated close to the office of the department at Thiruvananthapuram and it has a capacity for testing 4000 samples per year. Whereas, the estimated capacity for the upcoming Kochi lab is 6000 samples. The total number of field staff collection is near about 300 samples per month. Due to lack of modern facilities and shortage of technical staff, all the samples can not be tested on time and delays the result for even one year. By the time, all the substandard or date expired drugs might have been sold out in the market. So, the state needs more drug testing labs with modern machinery in order to strengthen the regulatory mechanism, sources said.

Link: http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=74398&sid=1

Republished here by courtesy of Pharma Biz. Com