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Pharmacy graduates to be appointed as apprentice assistant drug inspectors in Maha FDA
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Laxmi Yadav, Mumbai
March 29 , 2017
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Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) battling human resource
crunch will soon get B Pharm passouts as apprentice assistant drug
inspectors who will assist drug inspectors in their routine affairs.
The
initiative will reduce work burden of drug inspectors who are
responsible for the inspection of manufacturing, distribution and sales
units, taking drug samples for testing, conducting raids, taking action
against non-compliance, following up legal actions, recalling
non-compliant drugs, enforcing drug price control orders, and regulating
drug advertising and drug promotion as per Drugs and Cosmetics Act,
1940 and Rules, 1945.
It will enable pharmacy graduates to get
exposure to FDA functioning aiming at ensuring production and
distribution of safe and high quality medicines thereby enhancing their
employment opportunity.
There are just 98 drug inspectors as
against 161 sanctioned posts. The existing 98 drug inspectors have to
cover 3,258 manufacturing units and 75,000 retail chemists in the state.
The recruitment of drug inspectors is a lengthy and time consuming
process. Hence Minister of Food and Drugs Administration Girish Bapat
took decision to appoint B Pharmacy candidates as apprentice assistant
drug inspectors to ease the workload of existing drug inspectors.
The
minister in a circular issued on March 23 stated that B pharmacy
candidates will be appointed as apprentice assistance drug inspectors
for a year and will offer stipend to them. The stipend amount has not
yet been fixed. Advertisement regarding recruitment of apprentice
assistant drug inspectors will be issued by Maharashtra FDA at
appropriate time.
Welcoming the ministry's decision, Maharashtra
Registered Pharmacist Association (MRPA) president Kailas Tandale said
“The initiative will benefit 70,000-80,000 B Pharm candidates in
Maharashtra having 2.1 lakh registered pharmacists. In April 2015 we had
submitted a memorandum to FDA minister Girish Bapat urging him to
appoint pharmacy graduates as drug inspectors in FDA instead of
appointing retired officials. We had submitted the same to him last
year. Now our demand has been realised. It will help pharmacy graduates
hone their skills in FDA affairs thereby increasing their skills and job
prospects.”
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