WHO keen to know on Gujarat's SMS alerts

BANGALORE, INDIA: The Gujarat's Food and Drug Control Administration developed a cost effective SMS-alert system which would notify the stakeholders in the state about recalled fake drugs. The model was initiated this year and has been recognized by global giants in pharmaceutical sector.

According to PTI report, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is keen to know about Gujarat's system of keeping a track of spurious medicines through SMS alert.

The Gujarat's Food and Drug Control Administration developed a cost effective SMS-alert system which would notify the stakeholders in the state about recalled fake drugs. The model was initiated this year and has been recognized by global giants in pharmaceutical sector.

Through this system, the Gujarat Government has already issued 60 alerts for drugs of inferior quality and chemists have been asked not to sell those medicines. In the past, the Gujarat government has integrated technology in most of the government system which could help people at large.

Technology has been integrated in grievance redressal system, strengthening basic IT skills for the youth or education and even the courts of Gujarat. The government has integrated technology primarily in its healthcare sector.

For example the Integrated Management of New Born and Childhood Illness (IMNCI)- this was launched in 2005 combined with the E-Mamta Initiatives wherein a mother and child are registered and the post-natal nutrition, health and immunization status are tracked on computerized basis. E-Mamta which has led to fall in infant mortality rates has also been the winner of Social Innovation Honours by NASSCOM.