Nasser Al-Din announces a package of regulatory procedures and modern standards for drug reporting mechanisms

The Minister of Public Health, Rakan Nasser Al-Din, announced a package of reform measures aimed at strengthening drug control and protecting patient safety, in cooperation with the World Health Organization and the Doctors and Pharmacists Syndicates in Lebanon.

The announcement came during a press conference held in the presence of the representative of the World Health Organization in Lebanon, Dr. Ahmed Zouiten, the head of the Medical Syndicate, Professor Elias Shalala, and the head of the Pharmacists’ Syndicate, Dr. Abdel Rahman Markbawi, where the attendees reviewed the executive steps to regulate the import of medicines and verify their quality.

In this context, Nasser Al-Din revealed the preparation of modern draft standards for reviewing drug files, especially biological and similar drugs, as a result of a workshop organized by the Ministry in cooperation with a technical team sent by the World Health Organization, to train an academic team representing Lebanese universities. He pointed out that these standards will be officially approved as soon as they are approved by the Ministry, pending the completion of the formation of the National Drug Agency and the making of its appointments soon in cooperation with the Civil Service Council.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Health launched an electronic mechanism represented by a phone application for the national drug vigilance campaign. The Minister called on doctors and pharmacists to download the application and use it to directly report any medications that do not achieve the required therapeutic effectiveness or cause side effects. He stressed that every report through the application will be treated as official news, which the Ministry will follow up immediately through the Pharmacovigilance and Pharmaceutical Inspection Team to take the legal action, with the Doctors and Pharmacists Syndicates being informed of the results.

For his part, the representative of the World Health Organization, Dr. Ahmed Zouiten, stressed the organization’s commitment to supporting the Ministry of Health to gradually strengthen the capabilities of the National Medicines Agency and build institutional expertise to evaluate complex medicines. He stressed the continuation of this cooperation, funded by the European Union, to improve patient safety, improve the quality of medicines, and support the path of comprehensive health coverage in Lebanon.