Dr. Chumanlal Das, Head of the Policy Planning Division of the Ministry of Health, said that domestic industries should take this as their 'social responsibility' and facilitate production and supply.
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The Ministry of Health and Population has urged Nepali pharmaceutical manufacturers to fully domestically produce the 98 types of essential medicines specified by the government.
Speaking at a program organized by Health Journalists Forum Nepal in Lalitpur on Friday, Dr. Chumanlal Das, head of the Ministry's Policy Planning Division, said that domestic industries should take this as their 'social responsibility' and facilitate production and supply. He said that currently Nepal's domestic production is meeting only about 40 to 50 percent of the total demand. He stressed that domestic industries should increase their production capacity and replace imported medicines. 'We need cheap, quality and sufficient medicines. The ministry wants domestic industries to produce the 98 types of essential medicines specified by the government in the first phase. This will ensure that medicines can reach the local village level in an accessible manner. We cannot say that we can only manufacture 40-45 medicines ourselves at present, and we cannot replace medicines imported from abroad without expanding our capacity,' he said.
He said that the state will fully support industrialists if they provide quality medicines at affordable prices while fulfilling their social responsibility. He expressed concern that despite the quality of the medicines produced by Nepali pharmaceutical industries, there is a misconception that they are 'poor in quality' in the market. Dr. Das said that effective communication and advocacy are needed to dispel such misconceptions and rumors.
'We say that we produce quality medicines, the Supply Division buys them, but there are reports that substandard medicines were bought from outside. Why is this happening? Of course, our communication and advocacy are not enough. Communication must be strengthened to reduce rumors. This will increase people's trust in domestic products and benefit the industry as well,' he said.
