"Govt's vision is to become world's most respected, recognised drugs regulator": Union Health Minister

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], February 27 : Highlighting the importance of ensuring that medicines and medical products produced in India are of the highest quality for both domestic and export markets, Union Minister of Health Dr Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday said that the government's vision is to be known as the world's most respected and recognised drugs regulator.

"Within the Federal Democratic structure of the country, both the Centre and States are required to work together in harmony and synergy to ensure that we establish robust regulatory systems," Mandaviya stressed while addressing the concluding session of the two-day brainstorming conclave on "Drugs: Quality Regulations and Enforcement" in Hyderabad.
Mandaviya further highlighted that the deep dive sessions of the Chintan Shivir provided a platform for all stakeholders to deliberate on different aspects of building a robust, resilient, transparent, accountable and citizen-friendly drugs regulatory framework.
"This framework will ensure not only quality but easy availability and accessibility across the country of the highest quality of drugs and medical devices," he added.
According to the union minister, the intense deliberations during the two days provided an opportunity for all the participants to work in a team spirit to deliberate on the building blocks of such a forward-looking inclusive, holistic and comprehensive regulatory framework that would set the vision and meet the requirements of the next 25 years on the three levels of policy, priorities and implementation.
The health ministry's two-day meet on February 26 and 27 at Kanha Shanti Vanam was organised with the aim of building trust and confidence in the quality of drugs, cosmetics and medical devices in domestic and export markets.

Mandaviya also said that "quality by design" should be the motto.
"Our vision is to be known as the world's most respected and recognised drugs regulator. This can only happen when we move from generic to quality-generic drugs and medical device production in the country. Our drug regulatory systems ought to meet the needs of research and development, innovation, organisation strengthening and capacity enhancement," he said.
However, the discussions highlighted how to make the country's drug regulatory systems transparent, predictable and verifiable through principles of uniform standards, sturdy structures for compliance and enforcement, and capacity enhancement.
It was also presented that technology can play the role of a facilitator and enabler for uniformity, transparency and accountability.
The need for a uniform portal with a national database with integrated legacy systems was also discussed.
Shifting from minimal to optimal standards with periodic reviews, global benchmarking for drugs and medical devices formed an integral part of the session today.
Health secretaries and drug regulators from various states and union territories also participated in the two-day-long conclave.