CHENNAI: The failure to fill senior administrative positions on time has left the state's drug regulatory authority flailing and has also impacted decision-making which has and raised significant concerns about the focus on public health.
With allegations of corruption and bribery plagueing the department, it may be noted that the directorate has been operating without a permanent head for the past several months. a situation exacerbated by concurrent vacancies in the posts of two joint directors.
According to a report in The Times of India, the lack of proper leadership at the top level has resulted in administrative delays, with several files gathering dust and viral decisions on regulatory issues being postponed. Officials in the department claimed that the issue mainly stems from a flawed promotion system that requires officials to work in junior roles for a fixed number of years before becoming eligible for senior posts.
It may be noted that the directorate has the massive responsibility of regulating 365 drug manufacturing units, along with thousands of pharmacies, wholesale distributors and blood banks. However, sources indicated that lack of timely promotions have caused a serious administrative crisis in the directorate.
Over the past years, many officials attached to the department have been caught on corruption charges. The gravity of the situation came to light when the acting director of the drug control administration was arrested in July for allegedly accepting a bribe.
Following this, the health department assigned two assistant directors who were given additional responsibilities as deputy directors.
It may be noted that the department is grappling with vacancies in at least two of its 25 assistant director posts and 10 drug inspector positions. With the state divided into 25 zones for administrative purposes, this shortage of personnel severely impacts ground-level surveillance.
Senior officials admit that the manpower that has been allotted now barely allowed them time for processing licenses and conducting random checks which made it impossible to perform any comprehensive inspections of manufacturing facilities. Following this, many chemists and manufacturers have repeatedly complained about the lag in the system that is impacting their business in an adverse manner.