In News:

The Union Health Secretary, Smt. Punya Salila Srivastava, recently launched the State Health Regulatory Excellence Index (SHRESTH), a first-of-its-kind national framework to benchmark and strengthen state drug regulatory systems through transparent, data-driven assessments. The initiative has been developed by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) in collaboration with states and UTs.

About SHRESTH:

• Objective: To improve the performance of state drug regulatory authorities, ensuring drug safety, quality, and efficacy across India.
• Nature: Functions as a virtual gap-assessment tool, enabling states to measure their regulatory preparedness and move towards maturity certification.
• Categories of States:
  • Manufacturing States: Assessed on 27 indices under five themes – Human Resources, Infrastructure, Licensing Activities, Surveillance Activities, Responsiveness.
  • Primarily Distribution States/UTs: Assessed on 23 indices under similar themes.
• Process:
  • States/UTs submit predefined data to CDSCO by the 25th of every month.
  • Metrics are scored on the 1st of the following month and shared with all states/UTs.
• Significance:
  • Enables targeted improvements in infrastructure, digitisation, inspection, and grievance redressal.
  • Promotes cross-learning by sharing best practices of top-performing states.
  • Provides a roadmap rather than a scorecard, encouraging harmonization of drug regulatory systems nationwide.