DOHA: The Pharmacy and Drug Control Department at the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) will soon start registering more companies seeking a licence to import medicines into the country, a senior SCH official said yesterday.
Dr Aisha Al Ansari, Director of the Department, said that prices of medicines in the local market are expected to fall with implementation of the new law that seeks to end the monopoly on imports and lift the government control over pricing.
The new law is intended to open the market to competition by liberalising imports and lifting price control.
"The prices should come down as the market will be open to competition. Monopoly of the few existing dealers on imports will end and they will face competition from new importers," Ansari said at a news conference.
She said issuance of new import licences would be subject to strict regulations to protect public health and safety. An identification code will be assigned to each importer to facilitate control over the drugs. Importers will be asked to provide their own stores to stock the medicines.
The Department will intensify monitoring of the sector with implementation of the new law to prevent fake products from entering the market.
"We will conduct inspection from time to time and take samples of the drugs when they enter in the country," said Ansari. She said the new law would also result in an increase in supply of medicines and address the shortage of some products in the market. Currently about 7,000 products are registered in Qatar.
"We are not expecting an increase in the number of companies or products registered in the country. However, liberalising the imports would boost imports from different sources," said Ansari.
She said the Department would no more interfere in fixing the prices.
" There will not be fixed prices for medicines in the market. However, competition is expected to force traders to keep the prices low," said Ansari.
She ruled out the possibility of a sudden hike in the prices with lifting of the government control.
© The Peninsula 2011
