Chemists rush to meet good-practice deadline

A drugstore owned by the SGG Pharmacy group has registered with Good Pharmacy Practices standards in HCM City. Pharmacies nationwide are rushing to be registered by January 1. —VNA/VNS Photo The Anh

HA NOI — Pharmacies are racing to register their facilities under Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) standards as the Ministry of Health's January 1 deadline nears.

"The number of GPP applications has increased from one or two per month to nearly 100 in September," said Deputy Director of the Ha Noi Health Department Nguyen Van Yen.

The department said that about 1,100 among the capital's 1,900 pharmacies had received GPP registration, and its representatives worry that their limited resources might be overloaded as more pharmacies rushed to meet to the deadline.

Pharmacist Minh Chinh, who owns Minh Chinh Pharmacy on Quang Trung Street, said she had to invest about US$3,000 into her store in preparation for GPP registration.

Health authorities explain that pharmacies do not want to qualify for GPP because registering will force them to invest more money into their infrastructure and facilities.

An investment of $2,000 or $3,000 is not much for a pharmacy in urban areas, but the amount can be a serious challenge to pharmacies in the countryside. Several pharmacies are waiting to see if the health ministry will postpone their the implementation of their policy.

With nearly 3,700 pharmacies, HCM City is facing similar problems. About 1,000 pharmacies have GPP licences, which accounts for 27 per cent of the city's total. The city's health authorities expect that about 1,500 pharmacies will be able to meet GPP standards by the end of 2010.

"We asked the health ministry and the HCM City's People Committee to extend the GPP deadline for a few months so more pharmacies would be able to register for GPP", said Deputy Director of the HCM City Health Department Pham Khanh Phong Lan.

Lan explained that GPP licence required pharmacies to follow sales and consulting standards that many establishments had little experience in following.

HCM City has 4,586 pharmacists with university degrees. However, most of the graduates have little experience with consulting or sales. The municipal health department plans to strengthen its communication activities concerning GPP and will revoke their licences if the pharmacies violate GPP regulations, according to Lan.

"We also requested that pharmacies without GPP licences be permitted to sell only non-prescription drugs for an extended amount of time", she said.

In 2007, the Ministry of Health stated that pharmacies that failed to meet GPP standards would be closed. The GPP regulation is expected to prevent people from buying unnecessary and self prescribing drugs. — VNS

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Cattle from Thailand bypass border quarantine checks

QUANG BINH — Thousands of buffaloes and cows have been imported from Thailand without going through quarantine procedures, a media report said.

The regulation on a 15-day quarantine period was not being imposed at the Cha Lo Border Gate in central Quang Binh Province's Minh Hoa District, a report in the Nong thon Ngay Nay (Countryside Today) newspaper said.

The official excuse was the long distance between the Animal Health Department and the segregation areas made the cost and transportation of food for the stock expensive.

Quarantine certificates were being issue within as few as 1-7 days, the report said.

Importing livestock can be lucrative. One buffalo or cow can be bought for VND10 million ($523) in Thailand and sold for VND15-20 million ($785-1,046) in Viet Nam.

As many 10,000 buffaloes and cows crossed the border in the first seven months of the year.

Under regulations, livestock must go through seven stages of a 15-day quarantine period, supervised by Cha Lo Border Gate's Customs, Animal Health Agencies No 3 and the provincial Animal Health Department.

After 15 days, if segregated buffaloes and cows show no signs of disease, the owners receive quarantine certificates and the stock can be sold on the domestic market, the regulations state.

Violators are liable to a fine of VND15-20 million (US$785-1,046).

However, the rules were being ignored by agencies, the report said.

Provincial Animal Health Department head Pham Hong Son said "We just issue quarantine certificates for companies after the Animal Health Agency No 3 finish all quarantine procedures for animals and send files to us."

If animals had diseases, responsibilities belonged with the agency, Son said.

Besides, he said, the department and agency faced many difficulties in quarantining animals. Transporting feed for animals for 15 days was expensive, he said.

"We have submitted a proposal to building one concentrated segregated station in the Khe Ve area in Minh Hoa District," he said. — VNS

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