Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) is fully equipped and adequately staffed to carry out the works assigned to them;
(b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
(c) the measures being taken by the Government to strengthen and revamp the functioning of CDSCO along with the financial modalities worked out for the purpose?
(a) to (c): India is one of the largest manufacturers of drugs and currently exports medicines to over 200 countries/economies. The measures initiated to strengthen CDSCO include:
(i.) Increase in the number of sanctioned posts in CDSCOfrom 111 in April, 2008 to 474 in June, 2015;
(ii.) Constitution of 25 panels of experts in various therapeutic areas for evaluation of various categories of applications for (a) clinical trials, (b) new drugs and (c) new medical devices;
(iii.) Development of an IT-enabled system for online submission of Clinical Trial applications;
(iv.) Development of e-Governance module for CDSCO through the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Noida; and
(v.) Re-equipping the drug testing laboratories with State of the art equipment.