(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Â DOHA: In a move to do away with the wide disparities in the prices of medicines in different GCC states, the health authorities may soon agree on a proposal to jointly import medicines at unified prices, a senior official of the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) has disclosed.
A decision has already been taken to implement this proposal in the public health sector in the GCC countries and is likely to be expanded to the private sector by November, Dr Aysha Al Ansari, director of the Pharmacy and Drug Control Department at SCH, told Al Sharq.
"GCC states have agreed on joint import of medicines in the government sector and it would be approved for the private sector in the next meeting of the GCC health ministers in November," she said.
Once the proposal is implemented, dealers in the GCC countries will be able to buy the medicines from the manufactures at unified prices. Unified tenders could result in reduced prices, benefiting the local dealers as well as the end customers.
The official said the proposal is aimed at eliminating the wide disparities in the prices of medicines in different GCC countries and curb the smuggling of medicines from countries where the prices are low.
She said, for instance, the prices are the lowest in Saudi Arabia, compared to other GCC countries because of the large market due to its population.
She added that it would not be difficult to implement the new proposal since it has already been successfully tested in the public health sector in the GCC countries.
The unified tender system, however, may not result in unified retail prices because the profit margin in each country would vary. The GCC secretariat has proposed a 45 percent cap on profit margin but each country can decide the margin on its own under this general guideline.
Al Ansari hinted that prices in Qatar would remain to be higher compared to other GCC countries, even after the unified system is implemented, because the market is too small.
"Even then there will be a decline in the prices. There will not be big variations in the prices from one country to another," she said.
The SCH last year liberalised the imports and abolished exclusive dealerships of medicines, to address repeated complaints about high prices. The move, however, has not delivered the expected results because the market is still controlled by a handful of leading importers.
The high prices have prompted several citizens to bring certain medicines from Saudi Arabia for their personal use. They have also been complaining about the non-availability of some medicines in the country that are licensed in other GCC countries.
Qatar has its own licensing procedures for imported medicines that are said to be much more stricter compared to some other GCC countries.
"The unified pricing is a welcome move. However, the GCC countries should also implement a unified licensing system. Why several brands of medicines that are available in the UAE or Saudi Arabia are not sold in Qatar?" wondered a national, talking to this newspaper yesterday.
Reacting to the new proposal, industry sources said, it can lead to lower prices, once successfully implemented.
"The prices are relatively high in Qatar mainly because of the higher costs involved in importing medicines. If the GCC countries can buy the medicines in bulk and make them available to the dealers here at cheaper prices, it can definitely lead to lower prices," said a pharmacist.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.