Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Joint Secretary Dr. Mandeep Bhandari inaugurates virtual workshop

Mysore/Mysuru: The third of a series of six virtual workshops on ‘current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP)’ to support the Indian Pharmaceutical industry’s vision of providing world class quality medical products was inaugurated on June 14 by Dr. Mandeep Bhandari, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government  of India.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus and reinforced the need to enhance quality production for sustainable supply chains to meet national and global needs. These workshops address the vital importance of strengthening the capacities of Pharma manufacturing facilities meet current good manufacturing practices and sharing global practices to promote availability and access to quality medical products.

This unique initiative is the result of an active collaboration between the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), the World Health Organization (WHO), JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research at Mysuru (JSS AHER) and the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA).

In his inaugural address, Dr. Bhandari said, “This initiative of establishing a robust learning and training platform meets the critical need of enabling further upgradation of pharmaceutical sector for global standards of quality. This will have a far-reaching positive impact. It reiterates our commitment to quality medical products and reinforces our position of being the vaccine hub and pharmacy of the world.”

Welcoming the capacity-strengthening workshops, Dr. V.G. Somani, Drug Controller General of India, said, “We are committed to the highest regulatory standards to ensure quality, safety and efficacy of medical products.”

Speaking on the occasion, the WHO representatives from HQ, WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia and WHO Country Office for India said, “It is for the first time anywhere in the world that we have attempted a programme like this. WHO is fully committed to supporting such endeavours. Given the encouraging response to the earlier workshops, we hope to expand the outreach and have participation from other countries in the Region through the WHO South East Asia Regulatory Network.”

The genesis of these workshops is a survey of the pharmaceutical sector in India by WHO in 2014, which had recommended further strengthening of the cGMP with the support of WHO.

“The virtual workshops on cGMP is a key step in that direction and we are delighted to partner in this path-breaking programme,” said  Sudarshan Jain, Secretary General, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance. 

National and international experts, including from WHO and leading industry voices came together to design a need-based workshop. This was followed by a pilot workshop on cGMP for pharmaceutical units in December 2020 on a unique and dedicated WHO-JSS AHER web portal.

“It is a privilege for us to have anchored this initiative. We are grateful to Health Ministry, WHO and partners for the faith reposed in us,” said Dr. Surinder Singh, Vice-Chancellor,  JSS AHER. 

Dr. B. Suresh, Pro Chancellor, JSS AHER said, “The workshops are an important step for enabling the enhancement of pharma standards and contributing to global agendas, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

Under this initiative, a total of six workshops are being conducted — two for formulation manufacturing pharma units, three for active pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturing units and one for medical devices and IVD manufacturers. Cumulatively, over 650-plus participants from over 185 units will take part in this capacity-strengthening programme. The third workshop had 125 participants from 40 pharma units.

For more information about the virtual workshops, contact Dr. Vishal Kumar Gupta, Deputy Director (Academics), JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research on email: [email protected] or Mob: 92421-57508.