Panama: Bureaucracy Delaying Drug Registrations

Pharmaceutical companies claim they have limited participation in tenders because of the slowness with which the Ministry of Health grants permits for importing medicines and medical supplies.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Although the Ministry of Health has tried to solve the problem by providing temporary special permits so that pharmacies can keep distributing certain medications, industry representatives believe that this should not be the solution to the central problem, which is the slowness with which the Directorate of Pharmacy and Drugs reviews requests for renovations and new sanitary import permits.At the moment "...At least 71 products, including medicines and hospital supplies, have expired health permits."

Prensa.com reports that "... Lucas Verzbolovskis, a medicine distributer, said that there is too much bureaucracy. According to the employer, the delay also results in public events for the purchase of several lines of drugs being declared void. Regarding the responsibility of laboratories, Verzbolovskis clarified that companies are doing everything they can to register their products. "

"... Faced with these remarks, the Director of Pharmacy and Drugs of the MoH, Jenny Vergara, confirmed that they are authorizing special import permits for products which do not yet have health records. According to Vergara, a month ago a note was sent to laboratories repeatedly asking for these special permits so that in a "responsible way" efforts be made so that they can obtain their health records. "

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