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Gujarat To Bolster Healthcare Sector
Gujarat is now looking for upgradation of healthcare sector in the state to
provide better social life. For the purpose, the state plans to introduce Public
Health Act to streamline the health sector and address the entire gamut the
health related issue.
There would be a system to enforce the quality of health service and provide
quality life to people. which will essentially focus on monitoring all
healthcare institutions in the State. Right from directives to healthcare
institutions to treat medico-legal cases, to streamlining the growth of Clinical
Research Organizations (CRO) to bringing non-communicable diseases under its
purview, the act promises to reform the health sector. Under
the proposed Act, no healthcare provider or establishment shall delay treatment
merely on the grounds of receiving police clearance or a police report. It also
proposes to provide relief to the people by saying that the healthcare provider
shall not refuse a person emergency medical treatment, until the person
stabilizes, irrespective of his paying capacity, announced Gujarat Health
Minister Shri Jay Narayan Vyas. The proposed law says that a
healthcare establishment shall not provide a health service for experimental or
bio-medical or clinical research purpose, except according to guidelines laid
down by the Indian Medical Council for Medical Research. The proposed law
provides that every bio-medical and clinical research studies shall be carried
out only after prior registration with designated authority.
Gujarat has 14 universities and more than half a dozen research institutes
imparting post graduate and undergraduate courses in biotechnology and related
allied sciences. About 20 institutes offer UG courses, 5 offer PG courses, 6
offer doctoral courses and 7 offer diploma courses. The state produces around
5000 manpower trained in biotechnology, which includes PhD.s, Post Graduates, PG
Diploma, undergraduates and other diploma courses, in various biotechnology
related disciplines.
(Ref: Chronicle Pharmabiz July 17, 2008)
CII To Organize Seminars On Regulation On Medical Devices
In the wake of DCGI’s warning of strict action against the medical devices
manufacturers, who run their business without licenses, the CII is making
efforts to bring the regulators and the industry on a single platform to instill
awareness on the issue of regulation on medical devices. Even
though the government has brought 10 more medical devices under government
regulation through a notification dated way back on October 6, 2005, there has
been little impact on the industry and the medical devices industry remained by
and large an unregulated segment. The major reason for this situation is that
the regulation looked optional and there was no motivation for the domestic
industry to comply with the government order, sources said adding there was lack
of clarity about the
regulation. To bring clarity and also to help domestic medical
devices industry to understand the regulation better, the CII in association
with the CDSCO is planning to organize a series of awareness seminars on the
issue in different cities of the country. The first such seminar is proposed to
be held in Mumbai in the end of September or early October this year, which will
be followed by seminars in other major cities to shed more light on the issue of
regulation on manufacturers of medical devices. As per data
available with the union health ministry, only a handful of medical devices
manufacturers have come forward to register with the concerned state licensing
authorities for permission to manufacture the medical devices. Majority of the
manufacturers are still doing this thriving business without proper license,
sources said. The 10 medical devices, which were brought under
the purview of Drugs and Cosmetics Act, making it mandatory to get license for
manufacture for sale and distribution are Cardiac stents, drug eluting stents,
catheters, intra ocular lenses, IV cannulae, bone cements, heart valves, scalp
vein set, orthopaedic implants and internal prosthetic replacements.
The DCGI Dr Surinder Singh had recently warned the medical devices industry of
action if it failed to obtain licences from the State licencing authorities and
get them approved by the central authority. The DCGI’s action in this regard is
to ensure quality in the medical devices industry. (Ref:
Chronicle Pharmabiz dated August 22, 2008) |
