Problems with residents` access to medicine need solving - expert 

ArmInfo. The National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Committee on Healthcare held a working discussion on the process of state registration of medicines,  existing problems and mechanisms aimed at solving them.

As reported by the press service of the National Assembly, the  chairman of the committee Arsen Torosyan emphasized the importance of  such discussions in terms of raising problems in the sector and  identifying the necessary tools for their resolution.

Chairman of the Association of Independent Pharmacies Artur  Khachatryan touched upon two industry issues: availability of  medicines and the process of checking their quality and safety.  Having presented a number of statistical data and studies, Artur  Khachatryan expressed the opinion that if the issue of legal access  to medicines in Armenia is not resolved, the circulation of drugs by  contraband and unregistered means will continue. The speaker also  spoke about the need to regulate the sphere at the legislative level.  In his opinion, it is necessary to study the list of the Unified  Register of the EAEU, and since these drugs are registered in the  same regulatory manner as in the Republic of Armenia, then the  register should also include those drugs that are necessary for the  population of the republic. According to Artur Khachatryan,  laboratory examination of the quality of drugs in the country should  become mandatory, taking into account previous legal experience.

In turn, the RA Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan assured that  issues related to the pharmaceutical market and drug safety are in  the center of attention of the department. The Minister dwelt in  detail on the procedures for registering drugs, noting that Armenia,  being a member state of the EAEU, is bound by the relevant  legislation and is obliged to comply with the rules of the EAEU.  According to the Minister, the country cannot have rules different  from the rules of the EAEU. Speaking about the issue of quality  control of drugs, the Minister said that the examination of drugs by  the Center for Expertise of Drugs is not mandatory, it is carried out  by the importer based on its internal examination. There is also an  electronic system for quality control of drugs, where no problems  with the quality of drugs arise based on information about the  imported goods. 

Anahit Avanesyan said that it is planned to amend the law "On  Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances", adopted back in 2016. All  interested parties will be invited to the discussions.

During the discussion, issues related to the procedure for importing  unregistered medicines, opportunities for expanding national  registration mechanisms, the effectiveness of public procurement in  the medicines market, the conditions for importing a certain volume  of medicines for personal use, as well as a number of problems  requiring a legislative solution were discussed.

According to the agreement reached, the participants in the  discussion will soon submit written proposals that can form the basis  for the necessary legislative amendments.

It should be noted that, according to research conducted by the  Association, there are 2,620 licensed pharmacies in Armenia. The  annual turnover of medicines in Armenia is approximately $125  million.