Maldives has potential for pharma industry: Nazim

Health Minister Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim has said today that importing medicines from abroad will not be the sole purpose of the State Pharmaceutical and Medical Supply Corporation Limited. Instead, Nazim said that Maldives has the potential to produce medicine in-country and create a pharmaceutical industry. 

Responding to a question posed by North Galolhu MP Mohamed Ibrahim (Kudu) in parliament today, Nazim said that until now, the government has been importing medicine through STO. However, as STO operates across multiple sectors, it is unable to focus solely on the supplying medicine. 

Nazim said that several countries have State enterprises focused on medicine. The purpose of this is to place special priority on the matter, he said, adding that the focus of such a company in Maldives will also be to bring a comprehensive solution to the issue.

"What is the demand in Maldives? Which factories are the best medicines available from? What are the best links? Not just that, it won't do to just leave it at that. Medicine is now produced in all our neighbouring countries. So one task for this company will be research this, establish a strong laboratory for this, find investors, review what medicines can be produced in Maldives, what can be done here and expand the entire sector," Nazim said. 

Due to Aasandha reform measures that lowered medicine prices, imports of several drugs were halted. In addition, for various reasons, issuance of many available medicines under Aasandha was also stopped. As a result, Maldives faced a severe medicine shortage. 

With the purpose of finding a solution for this, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu established the State Pharmaceutical and Medical Supply Corporation Ltd on September 7. 

Nazim said that although neighbouring countries have been training doctors for decades, this commenced in Maldives only seven years ago, in 2018. Nurses have been trained in-country for 40 years, with Maldives offering the best nursing training in the region at present, he noted. 

He opined that, even regarding medicine, a comprehensive solution must be pursued rather than merely importing and selling drugs from abroad. 

"The Maldives health sector is expanding in this vein. That we are establishing a pharmaceutical company only to solve the medicine shortage, do not employ this narrow mindset. This is a much broader concept than that. Ultimately, the result of this will be that we will establish relations with pharmaceutical companies in neighbouring countries, and there will be people who can work on this in a focused manner," Nazim said. 

"Don't view the company just as an entity that will import medicine from one country to another. No, no, not just that. This laboratory and research will come on a much wider scope, with a much broader mandate. Maldives has the potential to expand this area and establish an industry here," Nazim there. 

State Pharmaceutical and Medical Supply Corporation Limited Managing Director Dr Shah Mahir told Mihaaru News last month that at present, efforts are ongoing to transfer medicine supply duties to the company. He said then that it will take approximately three to six months for the company to become fully operational.