KABUL (SW): The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) on Sunday inaugurated the country’s first National Medicine and Health Products Control Centre to ensure compliance with the quality and pricing regulations.
Ferozuddin Feroz, the Minister for Public Health said on the occasion that the newly launched center would streamline efforts to regulate prices and quality of the medicines and other health products in the country.
He said that medicines are essential part of public health system, and without the quality medicines it is not possible to ensure good health of the citizen. The minister pronounced the inauguration of the center as first fundamental step towards improving public health in the country.
“Our strategy is to establish a national body for drugs and health products because previously many parallel organizations were monitoring and evaluating the markets, and licenses were also issued by parallel organizations that caused corruption, people were unhappy and the patients were not getting proper treatment”, he said.
The minister added that Afghanistan relies heavily on imported medicine with 95 percent of the need for medicine catered by imported medicine. As per his knowledge, it cost the country a whopping $ 400 million.
Noor Shah Kamawal, head of this newly established body said on the occasion that the National Medicine and Health Products Control Centre would closely monitor the medicine market.
According to the MoPH officials, besides monitoring the medicine market, the National Medicine and Health Products Control Centre would also issue licenses for pharmacies.
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