Government News

In the meeting, the MoS stressed on the need to increase the Viral Research Diagnostics Laboratories (VRDL) in the states, including UP. Smt. Anupriya Patel, Minister of State (Health & Family Welfare), in a high level meeting, reviewed the activities and achievements of Department of Health Research (DHR) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).  Dr. Sanjay Mehendale, Additional Director General, ICMR and Smt. Sarita Mittal Joint Secretary, Department of Health Research were also present.

Drug price regulator NPPA  said it has decided not to stop any coronary stent manufacturer from withdrawing products from the Indian market.

In the 78th meeting of the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) held on 12th February, 2018 under the Chairmanship of the Director General of Health Services deliberated the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India dated 15.12.2017 in regard to the notifications issued by the Govt, of India prohibiting 344 FDCs +05 FDCs vide S.O.No. 705(E) to 1048 (E) dated 10.03.2016 and S.O. No. 1851(E) to 1855(E) dated 08.06.2017 respectively.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has decided to make the regulations more stringent to tackle the menace of the widespread misuse of Oxytocin, a neurotransmitter and peptide hormone, in dairy and horticulture industry crop up on a daily basis. The Regulatory body will hold a crucial meeting on February 22 at 11:00Am in Delhi with all the manufacturers of Oxytocin formulation for human and animal use in the country.

WHO is announcing a new high-level commission, comprised of heads of state and ministers, leaders in health and development and entrepreneurs. The group will propose bold and innovative solutions to accelerate prevention and control of the leading killers on the planet – noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) like heart and lung disease, cancers, and diabetes.

The government is looking to bring in a new pharma policy for implementing the proposed healthcare plan across the country in the next couple of months, Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar said. The big healthcare initiative announced in the budget for 2018-19 seeks to cover 10 crore households requires many verticals -- infrastructure, human resources and pharma and medical device products, Kumar told.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed among Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ), Quality Council of India (QCI) and Association of Indian Manufacturers of Medical Devices (AIMED) to form Indian Bio-medical Skill Consortium (IBSC).

FSSAI has notified the Food Safety and Standards (Import) First Amendment Regulations, 2018.

This notification amends the requirement relating to
a. shelf life of imported product at the time of port clearance. As per this notification, Custom Authorities shall not clear any article of food unless it has a valid shelf life of not less than sixty per cent, or three months before expiry, whichever is less, at the time of import”
b.  Further, one more provision stating “the importer shall submit certificate of sanitary export from authorized agencies in exporting countries for the categories of food as may be specified by the Food Authority from time to time” has also been inserted. This will help in the risk prioritization and in effectively dealing with high risk products intended for import.