Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi : Preeti Sudan, Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare stressed the conditions of laboratory in the country. She said Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission is the only WHO pre-qualified laboratory in the public sector and stressed a need for more number of laboratories to be accredited by WHO. Sudan also urged the state and central drugs testing laboratories to utilized the services available at Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission.
Sudan was speaking during the inauguration of the “6th WHO Bi-annual inter-Regional Seminar for Quality Control Laboratories (QCLs) involved in WHO Pre-qualification”. Seminar will continue till 25th October.
The objective of the seminar is to focus on selected elements for QCLs to achieve the common understanding of WHO norms and standards. Also this seminar aims to enhanced networking of laboratories, encourage more laboratories from India to apply for WHO pre-qualification.
The fifty eight participants from thirty countries are participating in the seminar. The inaugural event of this seminar was held on 23rd October, 2018; Preeti Sudan, Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India inaugurated this event as Chief Guest. She highlighted that Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission is the only WHO pre-qualified laboratory in the public sector and stressed a need for more number of laboratories to be accredited by WHO. She also urged the state and central drugs testing laboratories to utilized the services available at Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission.
Dr. S. Venkatesh, DG, DGHS, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India emphasized the much need of pre-qualified laboratories in ensuring the quality of life saving drugs and finished formulations.
Dr. R. K. Vats, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India narrated the role played by Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission in ensuring and promoting the quality of medicines as WHO pre-qualification laboratory.
Dr. Henk Bekedam, WHO Representative to India and Dr. Rutendo Kuwana, Technical Officer, WHO mentioned the WHO’s commitment and meeting objectives respectively.