Current Affairs and Administrative Aptitude for the Drug Inspector
Current Affairs and Administrative Aptitude tests awareness of India's regulatory institutions, price control, national health programmes and basic administrative procedure - the practical context in which a Drug Inspector works.
Core facts
- CDSCO, under the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, is the national regulatory authority; the Central Drugs Laboratory, Kolkata, is the statutory testing laboratory, and the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, Ghaziabad, publishes the IP.
- NPPA, under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, fixes ceiling prices under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, for scheduled formulations listed in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM 2022 contains 384 medicines).
- Price formula: ceiling price = average price to retailer of scheduled formulations + 16% retailer margin.
- Programmes and bodies: PvPI, Jan Aushadhi, Ayushman Bharat, ICMR, NABL, FSSAI and CDSCO's online portals.
- Administrative aptitude: RTI Act 2005, official language policy, noting and drafting, file movement, and the difference between quasi-judicial and administrative functions.
Worked example
A scheduled formulation has an average price to retailer of ₹100. The ceiling price is 100 × 1.16 = ₹116 per unit. If the manufacturer's MRP exceeds this, it is a contravention under the DPCO, regardless of the excise or trade margins shown on the pack.
Traps
Do not attribute price control to CDSCO or drug approval to NPPA; remember that the DPCO applies to scheduled formulations, not every marketed brand; and do not state that NLEM itself fixes prices.