A technical delegation from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health under the Taliban administration has traveled to Uzbekistan to assess the quality and standards of medicines imported into the country. The delegation is led by Abdul Basir Qani, Director of Drug and Health Products Regulation within the Food and Drug Deputy Ministry.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Public Health, the delegation will visit pharmaceutical and healthcare product manufacturing facilities in Uzbekistan, evaluate their production capacities, review their quality control systems and standards, and inspect factories that implement Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).
The statement further noted that the delegation is scheduled to meet with officials from relevant Uzbek institutions and pharmaceutical companies to discuss the expansion of technical cooperation, the enhancement of import standards, the exchange of professional expertise, and the supply of medicines that meet international quality requirements.
The visit comes as Afghanistan has increasingly relied on Central Asian countries and Iran to meet its domestic needs following the disruption of trade relations with Pakistan over the past eight months. Previously, most medicines and other essential goods were imported directly from Pakistan or through Pakistani transit routes.
Meanwhile, a number of Afghan citizens have reported shortages of medications used to treat certain specialized medical conditions, while the prices of many other medicines have risen significantly. According to these concerns, changes in import routes have affected both the availability and cost of pharmaceutical products in the domestic market.
Writer:Saeed Sameer
