Minister calls for stricter drug standards

Minister calls for stricter drug standards
SANCHITA SHARMA

NEW DELHI, OCT 12: Concerned about the issue of food safety, new Minister of State for Health A. Raja says there is an urgent need to tighten the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act to raise food and drug standards.

Speaking to The Indian Express, he said: ``We need to set up more centres to test products for purity and quality as the existing government machinery is not adequate.''

Raja added that there is rising concern about the quality of imported packaged and tinned food, and that these should comply with PFA standards. ``It's imperative to promote good manufacturing practices to protect public health,'' he said.

Raja is a DMK MP from Tamil Nadu's Perambalur constituency and Health is the second portfolio he is handling, besides Rural Development. The other issue that tops his agenda is improving rural health by strenthening primary health centres and ensuring they are adequately stocked with basic drugs.

``Health is a state subject, but the Centre should monitor the effectiveness of state programmes,'' he said. Stressing that awareness and education were the foundations on which good healthcare should rest, Raja cited the example of successes in the south where primary health centres are performing well. ``In Tamil Nadu, absenteeism and shortage of drugs at primary health centres are not the issue. What people are demanding there is that doctors should stay overnight at health centres to tackle emergencies,'' he said.

Raja shares Union Health Minister C.P. Thakur's love for health melas and said his state has successfully organised such melas in almost all the districts of Tamil Nadu. ``An average of 10 lakh people visit health melas in each district, and in Perumbalur alone, one lakh of the 11 lakh visitors were treated (at the mela),'' he says. All those treated were further given a card each -- with essential information like their blood group listed on it -- so that the information would be easily available for follow-up care.

He said the Ministry would also be working on increasing the standard of medical education and ensuring that hospitals provide quality care through introduction of compulsory renewal of medical licenses.