Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has advised small units to adopt bar coding for their product

In an effort to improve efficiency of small pharma units, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has advised these units to adopt bar coding for their product.

The advisory from the drug controller comes in the wake of Union Health Ministry’s proposal to make bar coding of drug formulations mandatory. The small pharma are asked to make full use of the subsidy granted by the government for the same.

“Bar codes can be very effectively used to track distribution of drugs in the marketplace and recall them if necessary. It also assists in effectively monitoring stock and consumption in hospitals. We will be happy to request all the federation members to impress upon their manufacturing units who have not so far adopted bar coding, to do so at the earliest, because this will be in their interest and in the interest of the industry as a whole,” said, T. S. Jaishankar, Chairman, Confederation of Indian Pharmaceutical Industry (CIPI).