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Health sector aggressively working to achieve MDG Eight

Mar 06, 2011 News

The local health sector is working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Eight which speaks to the provision of medicines and the fair access to technology. The MDG, as a result, calls upon manufacturers and suppliers to work together with national Governments to provide fair, effective and equitable access to medicines and technology.
The Ministry of Health through its Food and Drug Department, has planned a series of meetings for local importers of medical supplies with a view to ensuring that safe items are procured.
At a meeting on Friday, Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, asserted that it is possible for persons to operate safe and effective businesses and still be a profitable entity, even as he speculated that often unacceptable commodities are imported due to the need to cut costs.
“I believe that we have that corporate responsibility and I believe (us meeting) demonstrates a willingness to work toward that goal. But even though most of you have never thought about it you are an important part of the global effort to attain the MDG.”
The Minister pointed out that in the past it was assumed that the proper provision of health care was dependent on the various levels of health workers even as he asserted that importers are similarly responsible to ensure the safety of the public.
“You are in this room today not only for this reason but because our country had signed on to deliver on the MDG Eight…this addresses access: equitable access, fair access, affordable access to medicines and commodities and technology.
“I want to inform or remind you that target Eight (E) specifically talks about the equitable, fair, affordable access to safe medicine and safe technology so we are intensifying and accelerating our efforts towards meeting this MDG.”
In achieving the goal, the Minister said that there is also need to ascertain to what extent existing laws that govern the importation of medical supplies, should be strengthened.
“We would ask you to work with us because sometimes we have information that you don’t. Many of these things (medical devices) would have been tested in other places and we could share that with you before you procure these things,” the Minister warned.
He anticipated that with a partnership approach, the Ministry of Health will be in a position to undertake studies that seek to see how some of the test kits (medical devices) work in the environment, within households, and even in various laboratories.
Minister Ramsammy also noted that in addition to what the law caters for, the Ministry will lead studies of the safety and the effectiveness of some medical devices and the results will be published so that hospitals and the public at large will be provided with another criterion through which they will make their judgement.
The Minister said, too, that there is the option that the Ministry and the country as a whole could decide that certain medical devices now coming into the country will not be registered by the Food and Drug Analyst Department.
This, he said, will be based on whether “we determine that it is not safe or not effective. If it is not safe we will not permit its registration and its entry into the country. If it is less effective we will advise the public and indeed we do have the option of limiting the importation of those.
This is an effort to ensure that the Guyanese public is accessing whether through the formal health sector or through personal testing, test kits, equipment and commodities, that are safe and effective and that people are not wasting their money, he said.
“We know that we have a law and we know the law is on our side but we believe that if we work together then we will be able to provide our country with safe effective commodities. We are starting with the test kits for now but we will move to all of the other medical commodities…” Minister Ramsammy noted.

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