MAPUTO, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Mozambican government announced Friday in Maputo through its Ministry of Health that it will start in March this year a process of pre-shipment testing on imported drugs for Mozambique.
The announcement was made by the Mozambican Minister of Health, Nazira Abudula, during the launch of the project named Pre-shipment Inspection of Medicines.
"The testing of imported medicines in original countries will ensure that the Mozambican government protects citizens by ensuring that only safe and quality medicines are imported into Mozambique," said the minister.
The Health Minister said her ministry will maintain contact with clinics in countries that provide medicines to Mozambique for better coordination.
According to the minister, the test of the samples will make sure that if the product accords with the specifications approved by the Ministry of Health.
"Quality control of medicines is an important method to ensure the availability of drugs in conditions that do not harm public health," said Abdula.
She added that with the drug inspection the government will prevent the unregistered and counterfeit products from flowing into Mozambique.
"In 2017, the National Laboratory for Quality Control of Medicines analyzed 106 different active ingredients of medicines, of which about 12 percent were considered improper and rapidly withdrawn from circulation across the country," she said.
Currently drug inspection in Mozambique is visual and on paper, which fosters the smuggling of drugs sometimes unregistered or counterfeit.
According to a research from WHO in November 2017, an estimated 1 in 10 medical products circulating in low- and middle-income countries is either substandard or falsified, which can cause serious illness or even death instead of treating or preventing disease.
