National Medicine Policy launched to allow easy procurement of quality medicine

A new National Medicine Policy has been launched to incorporate the required guidelines that allow easy import of quality medicine into the country.

At the ceremony held at the Health Ministry, it was revealed that the National Medicine Policy for the next 6 years mainly prioritizes the timely procurement of medicine required for the people in an indiscriminatory manner.

Subsequently, the policy stipulated in this guideline measures to assure medicine will be brought from countries recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as adopting a strong regulatory system.

However, these stipulations will be implemented following the completion of the guidelines being drafted by Maldives Food and Drug Association (MFDA).

Speaking to Mihaaru News, a senior official of the association assured that importing medicine from countries in Category 1 will be made significantly convenient. This category lists 45 countries which includes Asian countries such as Malaysia and Singapore alongside European countries.

While the countries from which medicine will be imported were categorized, at the top of the list are 18 countries at this time.

The MFDA official stated that under this new guideline, medicine can be imported from the countries included in Category 1 with only two documents and a medicine sample. The two documents are the Good Manufacturing Practicing License and a Medicine Stability document.

In the importation of medicine to the country currently, the COPP, GMP and outer covers of samples, alongside previously issued permits, and COA must be submitted. Additionally, the profile and further details of the company must also be shared with the supplier. However, as some of this information are veiled company secrets, importing good-quality medicine into the country is impeded.

Drugstores has been issuing complaints on the matter for a long time since.

The MFDA official remarked that 45 documents are submitted for the import of medicine regardless of the country category. Formerly, the permit to import medicine is issued within 90 days after analyzing all the submitted documents. With this new guideline, the process is expedited, with an assurance of a maximum of 15 days to process the registration.

The official ensured the guideline will be released to the public within a month. He highlighted that the medicine imported into the country will see a quality improvement and alleviated procurement procedures with the implementation of this new guideline.