A drug testing laboratory at BIT-Mesra - set up over three decades ago and a potential alternative to the currently ailing state lab in Namkum, Ranchi - is stuck in limbo for more than two years for want of a fresh licence.
The Mesra lab was authorised as a government testing facility in 1984 and it conducted drug analysis till 2009. The lab was then located on an extension campus near the Ranchi-Hazaribagh stretch of NH-33. Thereafter, it was shifted to the department of pharmaceutical sciences and technology on the main BIT campus.
Head of pharmaceutical sciences B.N. Sinha said under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, whenever a lab changed address, it needed to seek renewal of licence or apply for a fresh one. "Initially undecided whether to continue as a state testing lab or harness the infrastructure for academic purposes alone, we finally applied for licence renewal in late 2014, but the state drug controller is yet to grant us permission," Sinha said.
The professor added that reactivating the Mesra facility would benefit the government in the long run. "We are an institution and don't have any commercial interest. So, giving us a licence will mean the state will have another lab option for drug testing. We have qualified people across disciplines such as microbiology, chemistry, instrumentation, cosmetics and so on."
The state's only other drug testing lab is relatively younger, set up in Namkum in 2008, but its operations have always been marred by acute crunch of manpower and resources. Currently, the Namkum lab has one government analyst and three assistant drug analysts. There is no one else to handle office administration and lab equipment.
"Our lab can't test high-end drugs or cosmetics because it lacks the required infrastructure. In the past, we had sent a proposal to the government for a strength of 72 employees to make this lab functional in the real sense. Nothing happened. We are only four people. We at least need a computer operator, an accountant and a few lab attendants," one of the analysts said, on the condition of anonymity.
According to Union government rules, an analyst should test only 15 drugs a month. Considering that we have only three drug analysts (the job of the government analyst is only to certify reports), it should be 45 samples a month. "But, at times, we do 50 to 60 tests. The instrumentation unit and, to a certain extent, the chemical and physical wings are functional. Microbiology and cosmetics units don't exist," the Namkum source added.
State drug controller Ritu Sahay maintained that the lab on BIT-Mesra campus needed to comply with certain rules, primarily confidentiality clauses, before its licence could be renewed.
"I have to see the files for details. From what I can recall, a team from Drug Controller General of India (a central licensing authority) had asked Mesra to segregate academic work and drug testing space. Only after compliance can we recommend to the central licensing authority a recce followed by renewal of licence," Sahay said.
Professor Sinha, on the other hand, stressed that they had already assured officials concerned about confidentiality in testing. "We are sworn to confidentiality and have met all the clauses," he said.
