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In a major move to streamline regulatory enforcement and administrative flexibility, the Andhra Pradesh Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department has proposed crucial modifications to the draft Presidential Order 2025.
The state health ministry wants to reclassify enforcement and testing posts within the state’s Drugs Control Administration (DCA) and the Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM). The decision aims to prevent key regulatory officers from being confined to small geographic zones, ensuring better distribution of experienced personnel across the state.
The proposed changes were finalized during a high-level review meeting chaired by the minister for health, family welfare and medical education, Satya Kumar Yadav, at the AP secretariat. Senior officials, including principal secretary Suresh Kumar and various Heads of Departments, attended the session. The meeting reviewed the impact of the Presidential Order 2025, which originally categorized all first-level gazetted posts strictly under localized ‘Zonal Cadres’.
Under the newly revised proposal, the post of drug inspector will be shifted from a Zonal Cadre to a Multi-Zone jurisdiction. Further, the position of assistant director of drug administration will be maintained as a state cadre post. This ensures that senior regulatory officers responsible for overseeing pharmaceutical manufacturing units, retail pharmacies, and clinical distribution networks can be deployed effectively throughout the state without zonal restrictions.
A similar structural modification has been sought for the Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) to maintain uniform standards in drug and food testing laboratories. The state health ministry has recommended that both junior scientific officers and senior scientific officers be elevated from the Zonal Cadre to the Multi-Zone Cadre. This adjustment will help the state manage its centralized testing infrastructure more efficiently.
The restructuring strategy comes at a time when neighbouring southern and western states, including Telangana and Maharashtra, are heavily tightening regulatory enforcement to curb the manufacturing of spurious medicines. By keeping senior administrative posts at the state level and field officers at the multi-zone level, Andhra Pradesh aims to match national enforcement standards and maintain strict oversight on pharma hubs, avoiding the administrative delays often faced by localized district or zonal setups.
The health minister directed all respective Heads of Departments, including the director general of the DCA, to quickly finalize these cadre restructuring proposals. The detailed plans will be sent to the General Administration Department for final approval and incorporation into the modified draft order. The ministry expects these changes to significantly boost administrative morale and improve field-level enforcement in the pharmaceutical sector.
Beyond the regulatory overhaul, the health minister also focused on public health preparedness ahead of the monsoon season. The Directorate of Public Health and Family Welfare, along with the Directorate of Medical Education, received instructions to submit immediate follow-up reports on the expert committee findings regarding Melioidosis and Scrub Typhus. The department will run extensive door-to-door fever surveys and anti-larval operations across all habitations to control vector-borne diseases.
The state health ministry also reviewed the staffing structures under the Institute of Preventive Medicine (IPM) and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to strengthen food safety operations. Under the new guidelines, the posts of Food Safety Officers and Food Gazetted Inspectors are proposed to be shifted from the localized Zonal Cadre to the Multi-Zone Cadre to expand enforcement capabilities across the state.
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