Date:05/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/05/stories/2008070559490500.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Second Drug Information Centre coming up soon

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj on Friday said that the State’s second Drug Information Centre will be opened in Chennai in a couple of days.

Speaking at the inauguration of a public awareness programme on safe use of drugs at the C. L. Baid Metha College of Pharmacy, he said the Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG) would set it up. The necessary equipment had already been received from the Central Government, he added.

The first Drug Information and Pharmaco Vigilance Centre, which was set up last year on the campus of the Directorate of Medical Services campus is a joint venture between the Directorate of Drugs Control and the Tamil Nadu Pharmacy Council. The centre, Mr. Subburaj said, had received many calls from patients who had questions about drugs prescribed for them.

Later, speaking to The Hindu, CAG Deputy Director Shoba Iyer said the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) had made the decision to set up the centre, which would also act as a consumer grievance redressal centre. It would be opened within a week at the CAG office at 9/5, II Street, Padmanabha Nagar, Adyar. The recorded grievances would be passed on to the NPPA, she added.

Self-medication and evasive use of drugs were major issues in drug abuse, Mr. Subburaj said.

He said there were over 600 drug manufacturing units in Tamil Nadu producing drugs worth Rs.500 crore. There were a total of 40,000 drug stores in the State.

Tamilnadu Dr. MGR Medical University Vice-Chancellor K. Meer Mustafa Hussain said patients needed to be educated on the dangers of overuse and underuse of drugs. An exhibition on the safe use of drugs was also inaugurated on the occasion.