The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has asked the state drug controllers to provide details regarding the number of manufacturing units operational at present, percentage of average daily production of formulations and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and percentage of employees as compared to the pre-Covid-19 situation. “The government of India desires to know the status of working of pharma industry,” the DCGI said in a letter dated April 1.
Lobby groups representing manufacturers and pharma companies had earlier expressed their concern, saying that the lockdown across the country in the wake of the coronavirus had resulted in supply disruptions even as the industry was exempted by the government.
“We are facing inter-state transport challenges. There is a lot of medicine stock that comes from Goa, Baddi and Sikkim. Due to the lockdown, it has become difficult to reach the retailers,” said Jagannath Shinde, president of the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD). “We are also facing transportation issues for supplying medicines in Punjab and UP. We are trying to resolve transportation issues.”
