Cambodia to form committee to check on quality of medicines
March 10, 2008
Around 30 leaders from Cambodia's various pharmaceutical organizations
have agreed that a Pharmacy Accreditation Committee must be formed
this year to keep check on the quality and validity of medicines sold
through the kingdom's growing number of pharmacies, local media
re****ted Monday.
"Among our many challenges are keeping check on the quality of medical
products sold and an overall improvement in the quality of health
services, so a Pharmacy Accreditation Committee is needed," Yim Yann,
president of the Pharmacist's Association of Cambodia, was quoted by
the Mekong Times as saying.
The Pharmacy Accreditation Committee, to be supervised by the Health
Ministry's Department of Drugs and Food, will *****s whether
pharmacies reach a standard called "Good Pharmacy Practice," said Yim
Yann, with those up to scratch receiving of facial accreditation.
The rapidly increasing circulation of medicines is hampering efforts
to control the sector, Sok Pheng, Under Secretary of State for the
Health Ministry, said, adding that drug traders with no medical
knowledge often conspire with dishonest traders to circulate fake
medicines.
Although relevant laws are enforced, most pharmacies are substandard
so contraband, counterfeit, inferior, unregistered and expired drugs
still sit on pharmacy shelves, he said.
Mao Dareth, deputy president of the Pharmacist Association of
Cambodia, said that there are about 1,300 pharmacies throughout the
country, nearly 500 of which are in Phnom Penh.
Soure: Xinhua
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