India seeks to step up oversight of drugs and devices starting with new department name

India's Department of Pharmaceuticals could soon get a new name to reflect all of its authority: Department of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices. The department is a unit of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.

A task force led by the head of DOP recommended the name change along with a request to strengthen the department's oversight of medical devices.

The government has moved recently to bring devices under the nation's price-control plan. It also has mulled establishing industrial parks for device manufacturers where they could share infrastructure costs to lower individual expenses, similar to a proposal for the pharmaceutical industry.

- here's the story from the Economic Times