Drug control authority planned

The creation of such an authority would provide required focus on the manufacture and sale of drugs in the country, which would also ensure effective implementation of strategies to check the menace of fake/spurious drugs, Minister of State for Health Panabaka Lakshmi said in a written reply.

She said the government has obtained in principle, approval of the Planning Commission for setting up of Public Health Foundation of India, which would establish two Indian Institute of Public Health to impart highest quality of public health education in the country.

Out of the two IIPHs proposed, Lakshmi said one would be in northern region around Delhi and the other in the southern region of the country in Tamil Nadu.

This initiative was aimed to build the human resource capacity, which is considered essential to improve public health delivery on a large scale, she said.