India and the US have decided to set up working groups, comprising secretaries and senior officials of respective government, scientific and research institutions, to find out ways and means to further strengthen the cooperation in the healthcare related issues between both the countries, said Anbumani Ramadoss, Union minister of health, family welfare. The Indian working group will have the heads of healthcare research institutions as its members, he added.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday on the occasion of Indo-US life sciences seminar, Ramadoss said the working groups will be formed in the next two months and will have two separate bodies – bureaucratic and technical – to identify issues related to standards, regulations, common concerns, safety of products (both import and export), chronic diseases, outsourcing of services, exchanging educational programmes among other things. The working groups will start functioning in six months, he added.
Apart from finding solutions to the chronic diseases, the working groups will draw standards on the safety of medical and food products (import and export), making the standards compatable with the global standards, improving the surveillance, etc, he added.
According to Michael O Leavitt, secretary, US department of health and human services (DHSS), both the governments will work together to improve the safety of imported products. The two countries will seek ways to enhance the quality of better food, drugs and medical products. By working together we will be developing new scientific knowledge, creating new technology for the development of vaccines, drugs, diagnostic tools and devices apart from controlling, preventing and eliminating diseases. The Indian system should work with that of the US and the collective regulatory norms should be made compatable to all other countries, he added.
Later responding to queries, Ramadoss said that the Central Drug Authority will be set up on the lines of US FDA. The Act is pending before the Standing Committee of Parliament and the same is expected to be cleared in two months. After the clearance, it will take one year to set up the authority. “The US FDA will provide its technical expertise and help us setting up the authority soon,” he added.
According to Ramadoss, the authority will have 10 different divisions to look after the issues such as licensing, clinical trials, diagnostic and medical equipment and other things to enable things move faster in a much comfortable way, he added. The authority will help Indian companies get the US FDA clearance immediately (within days of application), he added.