State Pharmaceutical and Medical Supply Corporation Ltd (StatePharma) Managing Director Dr Shah Mahir has stated today that the importation of medicine and medical consumables will be fully brought under the company after July 1.
Speaking at a meeting of parliament's Committee on State Owned Enterprises regarding challenges in obtaining medicine locally, Shah said that although the new StatePharma has begun operations, many of its responsibilities so far remain under STO.
Medicine and medical consumables needed in the country are also still brought in by STO.
Shah noted that it is a difficult task to set up a new company and transfer all the work. Hence, the operations are being managed stage by stage, with StatePharma taking on the responsibility from April 1 of bringing in medication which is not available in the country, he said.
However, pharmacies in inhabited islands across the country are still operated by STO. These will also be brought under StatePharma from July 1 onwards, Shah said.
Shah said that StatePharma will be fully operational after all these are transferred under the company in July, adding that the company will also be responsible for the importation of medicine and medical consumables. He said that the impact and results of their work would be evident within the following six months.
"We have started efforts and are now working on building up the company. Along with that, we are reviewing the scale of the issue and other factors. What we have learned is there is a lack of a proper system in the country to review medicine availability and issues. It's currently in a manner where it is difficult to gauge how much is in stock, or its levels, or do a forecast," Shah explained.
"We assure you that once we takeover these responsibilities, we will set up a system where the stock of medicines can be seen live. That work is currently ongoing."
Shah further stated that it is not a viable solution to bring in individual medications when it's not readily available in the country. To address this, StatePharma is working on making arrangements to ensure more convenient medicine availability in the country, he revealed.
