Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das reviewed different activities of the Ayush Ministry and the State Drug Controller Directorate on Thursday at the Lok Seba Bhawan here.
He stressed on setting up herbal gardens in all the Ayurvedic hospitals of the State and renovation of all age-old medicinal scripts preserved in the State Museum and expedite further research on the subject. At present, 1,485 Ayush clinics and nine Ayush hospitals are operating in the State with four Panchkarma and one Khara Sutra Centres. The Minister has directed to verify the quality of different types of Ayurvedic medicines and its utility at regular intervals.
While one Drug Testing Centre is operating in the State at Bhubaneswar, another such centre is expected to be operational at Sambalpur by March end.
More than 3,500 drug samples are being tested in Drug Testing Laboratory at Bhubaneswar, which will be increased in the coming days. The Health Minister laid stress on checks and balances by the Directorate in the use of intoxication medicines with raids to control duplicate medicines alongwith seizure.
Additional Chief Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra alongwith Managing Director of Odisha State Medicine Corporation Yamini Sarangi, Departmental Special Secretary Ashok Kumar Nayak, Ayush Director Trilochan Majhi, the Health Director, Drugs Control and all Deputy Drug Controllers were present in the meeting.