Cabinet simplifies inspections of imported medicines after attacks on warehouses

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has simplified state quality control of imported medicinal products to speed up their delivery to pharmacies and hospitals. The decision was made due to Russian attacks on pharmaceutical warehouses and logistics infrastructure, which create a risk of drug shortages.

Prime Minister Serhiy Koretskyi and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine reported this on October 14.

Under the new rules, authorized representatives of importing companies will be able to independently verify the conformity of imported medicines with accompanying documents, as well as conduct visual inspection of packaging.

Photo documentation of the cargo condition will be mandatory during inspection. The importer's representative will have to inspect the transport packaging, external and internal packaging of the products. The results of the inspection along with photos must be submitted to the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control.

Based on the received materials, the State Service will issue a conclusion on the quality of the imported medicines.

A separate simplification is provided for re-import of medicines from one batch. If medicines from the same production batch have already been imported into Ukraine, the company's authorized representative will be able to independently conduct visual control and send a notification to the regulator.

This will reduce the inspection time of such deliveries to one business day. Previously, the need to undergo state control procedures could lead to prolonged storage of large batches of medicines in warehouses.

Minister of Health Viktor Liashko explained that the changes are aimed at increasing the resilience of pharmaceutical logistics amid constant Russian attacks.

According to him, the government together with pharmaceutical companies is looking for ways to speed up drug distribution so that medicines do not accumulate in warehouses where they can be destroyed during shelling.

“Today the government simplified certain procedures for imported medicines. This will reduce their transit time and allow organizing further supplies faster — without weakening the requirements for their quality and safety,” — Liashko noted.

However, state quality control of medicines is not abolished. The government emphasized that the changes relate exclusively to certain stages of inspection of imported goods. Requirements for safety and quality of medicines remain unchanged.

The current decision continues the previously started simplification of pharmaceutical logistics. In August, the Cabinet allowed companies to engage additional storage facilities, use the infrastructure of other licensed operators, and distribute stocks among several facilities.

In addition, importers were allowed to place imported products in warehouses in different regions of Ukraine even during state quality control.

Such changes should reduce the concentration of medicines in individual logistics centers and lower the risk of simultaneous loss of large volumes of products due to Russian attacks.

Based on materials from: Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.