DILI, 13 july 2022 (TATOLI) – The Ministry of Health (MoH) will cooperate with Australia and Indonesia to support and enable the National Health Laboratory (NHL) to conduct pharmaceutical quality control testing.
National Director of Pharmacy and Medicines, Delfim Ferreira said the matter has already been discussed internally.
“According to government policy, we should have agreements with Indonesia and Australia to strengthen NHL to be able to conduct drugs quality control testing in the country,” Ferreira told TATOLI, in Dili.
Ferreira stressed that the quality of the drugs should be strictly assessed and controlled to ensure their safety and efficacy before distributing them to health centers and clinics across the country.
“The international pharmaceutical supply companies are required to send the samples of the drugs to the Autonomous Service of Medicines and Health Equipment (SAMES) for quality testing. If the test results reveal a lack of quality, then the drugs will not be allowed to administer in the country and they should be returned to the companies,” he said.
To ensure therapeutic goods are of an acceptable standard, last year, the Ministry of Health signed an agreement with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) laboratory to test and assess the quality of several types of medicines, including insulin, dexamethasone amoxicillin, and simvastatin.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges
