L’Algérie assure 82 % de ses besoins – Le Jeune Indépendant

Strengthen the traceability of the drug circuit.

The Minister of the Pharmaceutical Industry, Ouassim Kouidri, declared, in Tizi Ouzou where he was on a working visit, that 82% of national needs for medicines are met by local production. The minister’s mission, which focused on the visit and inspection of the three medical device production sites, was an opportunity to immerse himself in the national pharmaceutical reality. He stressed that “efforts must continue to further reduce the import bill which still remains high, but also to respond to the program of the President of the Republic in terms of health security”.

The minister also insisted on the private sector’s share in these efforts and this local production since of “the 230 production units nationally, 229 are private units with own funds or in partnership”. “There is only Saidal who represents the public in this landscape,” he clarified. This is why it did not fail to call on private operators, particularly from the west and south of the country, to operate in these regions, because the concentration of production units is in the center and east of the country.

Also, Ouassim Kouidri invited these investors from the West and South “to come forward and participate in this national production effort” by reminding them that all the doors of his department are open. “It is enough to present yourself with a complete file to obtain the necessary approvals for which firm instructions have been given to the central directors of the ministry,” he assured. Concerning the reduction of the bill, the ministry is trying to reverse the trend by exporting medicines that Algeria aims to develop. But to do this, it must meet WHO level 3 (ML3) certification criteria, which attests to the compliance of its regulatory system with international standards.

The minister indicated, in this sense, that “the process is underway with the end of the first stage in terms of legislation. “There only remains the second one, that of the implementation on which we are working and which will soon take place in a relatively short period of time, either towards the end of November or the beginning of December, where we will be evaluated by the WHO,” he explained, before concluding: “This certification will allow us to significantly develop exports which have so far reached nearly 50 million dollars.”

Regarding his field trip, the minister, who was accompanied by wali Abou Bakkar Essedik Boucetta, P/APW Sid Ali Youcef, went to the production site of two units specializing in medical instruments and devices in the field of interventional cardiology (Vicralys) and surgical threads (Sutural) in Draâ-Ben-Khedda. He also went to Aldaph (Oued Aissi), a unit specializing in the dry form of treatments for diabetes and obesity, and finally, to the holding company, located in the industrial zone of Ouarkik in the commune of Azazga, which has three production units for blood glucose strips, medical devices, blood collection tubes (Cytolab), and pharmaceutical products. dry other laboratory consumables (DIMED). Ouassim Kouidri also visited the buildings under construction of a reagent production unit.