Phnom Penh (FN), Nov. 5 – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen urged all the relevant public and private institutions to work together in countering trafficked falsified and substandard medicine sold on online market, addressing at Regional Conference “Combating Falsified and Substandard Medicines” held at Sofitel Phnom Penh on Monday.

“Due to the lacked cooperation, we could not effectively obstruct the masked murderer [fake medicine] and that the alarming issues are the usages and distributions of expired medicines and the limited awareness of our citizens,” stated Prime Minister.

According to Prime Minister, health ministry always lost the cases at court to the brokers. Brokers claimed that their substandard pharmaceutical products were legally imported, as the government charged taxes from them.

The Strongman of Cambodia underlined that “public-private cooperation is necessary to counter the falsified and substandard medicines.”

He outlined four reasons of the proliferation of falsified medicines, including the high price of standard medicine, low management mechanisms on manufacturing and distributing medicine, low public awareness on substandard medicines, and limited capability of authorities.

In response to health issue, the Royal Government of Cambodia of the sixth legislature has (1) updated Health Strategic Plan 2016-2020 and strengthen the implementations to improve the quality, efficiency and equity of health services; (2) promoted nationwide healthcare coverage; (3) promoted safety of health emergency services by increasing investment in health infrastructure and science technology; and (4) strengthened enforcement of laws and regulations on pharmaceutical quality inspection, and the use of chemical substances in foods, and alcohol and tobaccos.
=FRESH NEWS