THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The renewal of licenses of medical stores and establishments selling surgical supplies in the Kerala state is being put in crisis by issuing certificate that is not mentioned in the law. This unwritten practice continues despite the amendment brought in by the central government to simplify the licensing procedures.

According to the condition, if a person who obtains a license to run a pharmacy institution pays a fixed fee once in five years, the license should be considered as renewed. While this provision under the Drugs Control Act exists, the Kerala state drugs control department conducts an internal inspection and issues a certificate. Its nickname is 'Retention Certificate'. There is no such system in the central law.

There is a special legal provision to identify and take action against those who run medical institutions illegally and trade medicines in violation of rules. The old-fashioned policy that puts medical institutions in crisis continues while this provision exists.

Even though it is not in the law, as there is a situation where this certificate is issued, it is not possible to buy and sell medicines from drug dealers if this certificate is not received in time. In the past, the license renewal was done after submitting an application and direct inspections by the officials. However, in 2016, an amendment was made to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, which replaced the "renewal" with "retention".

With this, once the license is obtained, the license fee can be paid to the treasury every five years and the application can be filed online on the portal. The assistant drug controllers who receive the application will forward the application to the drug inspector. He will examine the application and send it back along with the recommendation. The retention certificate will then be sent to the applicant by email informing him that the license has been retained. Due to the workload in the Drugs Control Department, which does not have adequate staff, it is not possible to complete the procedures properly. With this, the applicants will also be struggling because they did not get the certificate.

Solution near?

The Drugs Control Department can clarify in writing pointing out that a certificate is not required for renewal of license under the law and that the document of payment of fee is authentic. With this, the problem of traders will be dismissed and the workload of assistant drug controllers and drug inspectors will be reduced. When a license renewal document is sought, including by drug companies, pharmacy owners will only have to submit a document of the drug control department and a receipt of payment of fees.

Total number of pharmacies...... 34,268

Small enterprises........................ 24,933

Wholesale enterprises.................. 9335

The matter will be examined and steps will be taken to avoid the difficulty of traders.

- Dr. Sujith Kumar.K

Drugs Controller