Gandhinagar : Meeting between FDCA-Gujarat and USFDA held in Gandhinagar. The “FDCA, Gujarat – USFDA Regulatory Forum” has been formed to exchange information and knowledge between the FDCA, Gujarat and the USFDA. In which a quarterly meeting was held at the office of the Commissioner, Food and Drug Regulatory Authority, Gandhinagar to move forward in the direction of mutual information as well as exchange of technical matters by holding periodic meetings between these two organizations under Regulatory Forum. The USFDA team paid a courtesy call on Health Minister Rushikesh Patel and Additional Chief Secretary Manoj Agarwal under the Indo-US Vaccination Program. During the visit, Health Minister Rushikesh Patel gave details of various schemes being implemented in the state of Gujarat, such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, Maa Amrutam, Vatsalya Yojana. The government is considering providing free pneumococcal vaccine and cervical cancer vaccine to the public. Gujarat State is and will remain committed to provide quality medicines at affordable rates to the general public with a leading position in pharmaceutical production. The Minister invited the USFDA team to participate in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit-208 to be held in Gujarat in the coming days, to be held at the Pre-Event Summit to be held on 16th December 2021 at Gandhinagar.
Additional Chief Secretary Manoj Agarwal, meanwhile, discussed ways to exchange information and technology and provide state-of-the-art drug regulators with state-of-the-art training. They interacted with the USFDA to strengthen various schemes run by the state health department such as non-communicable diseases, cervical cancer and the National Health Program. During the visit, according to the USFDA team, India is a world leader in pharmaceutical production while Gujarat is one of the leading states. Under the New PLI (Production Linked Incentive Scheme) scheme by the Government of India, drug manufacturers in the state of Gujarat will benefit which was appreciated. At this meeting, on behalf of the USFDA team, Dr. Sarah McMullan, Director, USFDA, India Office, headed by her other officers Preetha Rajaraman, Dr. Sudhindra Kulkarni, Syed Asrafuzhaman, Jacqueline Jones and Dhruv Shah Food and Drug Administration Head Office and Circle Office officials were present.
