A group of drug control officers to form parallel association to AIDCOC

With the All India Drugs Control Officers Confederation (AIDCOC) alleged to be dormant and the problems faced by the working and retired officers belong to the Central and state drugs control administrations continue to be unresolved, a group of drug control officers with the involvement of retired officers has formed a social media platform to work for the welfare and protection of the drug regulators.

The social media forum comprises four groups in whatsapp which will be converted into a registered national organization comprising members from all states and Union territories.

The groups at present include 810 members and once they take in 1,000 members, formation of the national association of drugs control officers (DCO India) will take place. It will work as a parallel association to the AIDCOC, say the group admins.

The very purpose of forming an all India body of drug regulators belonging to CDSCO and state DCAs is to save the drug control officers from threatening and other forms of intimidations by culprits and lawbreakers. Secondly, they observe that for a uniform enforcement of the drug laws, assistance and guidance can be provided to each drug inspector by a member of the group from any corner of the country. Similarly, violations or offences found by one officer in his jurisdiction can be shared with other officers or with the retired officers with respect to the seriousness of the matter for discussion and action. The officers feel that the need of the hour is to have a national platform to discuss and communicate the issues pertaining to enforcement, drug laws, feedback of actions taken and problems faced by the officers while in duty.

According to G Koteshwar Rao, retired drug control officer from Telengana who is one of the captains of the DCO India national forum, the initiative to launch the national association through whatsapp group was taken place on March 30, 2019, the day Dr. Neha Shoree, the woman drug inspector in Kharar in Mohali was shot dead allegedly by a chemist. Dr. Lalit Goel, the assistant drug control officer in Hariyana along with another ADC Rakesh Dahia, formed the group which was later added on by members from all states. Now, with successive additions of members, the DCO India social media forum has four groups, A, B, C and D and the number of members increases every day.

“We have given top priority to retired and senior officers who are well experienced and are able to guide the working officers by sharing their experiences. The Groups, A, B and C, have reached their maximum limit of members and group D is getting filled gradually. Once we reach one thousand members, we will form the national association. Some of the senior group members are Dr P V Appaji Rao from Telengana, Dr Selveraj (Ex DC Tamil Nadu), Dr Venkat Reddy (Ex DC of AP) , Dr V G Somani (DCGI), Dr S Eshwar Reddy (Jt DCGI), Narendrakumar Ahuja (DC Haryana), Dr Satheesh Kumar (Ex DC Kerala), Pawan Jaggi (Ex DC Delhi) and Dr Atulkumar Nasa (DC Delhi). Several working and retired state drug controllers and officers from the Central Drugs Standards Control Organization are also members of the national forum,” said G Koteshwar Rao, one of the admins of the DCO India national forum.

Although the formation of the national association is in the pipeline now, the social media group has conducted two webinars of relevant subjects with participation from drug control officers from all over India. Last Saturday the second online seminar was held on the subject “Investigational Skills under Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules'. Rajinder Kumar Harna, retired ADC from Haryana spoke on the subject through a power-point presentation. He covered different aspects of investigations with a view to bring them to logical conclusion by citing many High Court and Supreme Court judgments.

Speaking to Pharmabiz, Koteshwar Rao said DCO India Forum will take its organizational structure very soon and it will institute an award, ‘Best Drugs Control Officer Award’ with handsome prize money in all India level associated with Pallavi Memorial Trust, a group of institutions in Hyderabad. Late Pallavi Koteshwar Rao was the deputy director of Telengana drugs control administration.