Dr M Kazim Naimi holds the reins of the pharmaceutical regulatory body under the Ministry of Public Health in the newly formed Islamic Transitional State of Afghanistan. Pharmacy Department, General Directorship of Supply and Sales and Generic Directorship are the various functional aspects of the drugs regulatory apparatus in Afghanistan. A medical practitioner by profession Dr Naimi has served under various ministries including interior ministry in the new government formed post-Taliban Afghanistan. He had also served the country's army for about 8 years. Currently, on a visit to Mumbai as part of his endeavour to give a new shape and form to the extant health policy in Afghanistan, Dr Naimi shared a few of his visions for the emerging state in an exclusive to Chronicle Pharmabiz. Excerpts from the conversation:

Can you give us some idea about how the drug control machinery functions in the new Afghanistan?

The state drug control administration comes under the Ministry of Public Health in the new Islamic Transitional State of Afghanistan. As you are aware, the country of Afghanistan as we see it today is what is that left after nearly three decades of war. Now we are in the transitional phase. In the process of nation building, we can say. So, we need to revise those 30 years old procedures and patterns and remodel them in accordance with the present day realities. Obviously, it requires time and a lot of effort. In our endeavour to give shape to a comprehensive health policy, we look forward to many models. I have visited Iran. Now I am in India. Soon I will travel to some of the European capitals.

What sort of cooperation Afghanistan is looking for, from India, in terms of regulation of drugs and pharmaceuticals?

India is our good neighbour. We are looking at this country in more than one level. We, Afghans, have greater consideration for Indians. While sending me here, our health minister Mrs Sohaila Sidique told me to covey her special regards to the people of India. Coming to pharmaceuticals, we see India as a model in many fronts. I already had a dialogue with the Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Maharashtra on technical cooperation between both the countries. We are seeking the FDA's expertise to train our staff in quality control, production, procurement, distribution and storage of formulations. We have invited the FDA officials to visit our country as part of the cooperation programme. Everything will be finalized once we get the green signal from the Indian health authorities.

Also, Afghanistan has been sourcing pharmaceutical products from India for many years. There already are quite a few associations with some leading players like Ranbaxy, Cipla etc. And we are planning more tie-ups and collaborative ventures with some other companies as well, not only in sourcing point of view but for establishing indigenous production/ formulation facilities and the like.

We also plan to source from the allied sector in India. We have already visited companies like Fabtech and Aircorp Group for this purpose.

Can you brief us about the registration proce-dures for foreign companies in Afghanistan?

The health ministry has recently come out with a set of terms and conditions for registering foreign companies. Any company which wants to set up a shop in Afghanistan must be known internationally with product quality of internationally accepted standards. The company should sell it products only to those Afghan firms which are officially approved by the Pharmacy Department. The prices of the products should be according to internationally accepted norms and should not differ from that of the country of origin. Companies should send samples of drugs along with the pharmacological and trading documents through the embassy of Afghanistan located in the exporting country. During the registration process, an appointed delegation of the Pharmacy Department will make a visit to the respective country to inspect the production facilities.

You had mentioned that a lot of drugs are being smuggled through the border provinces of Afghanistan. How do you tackle the problem of these sub-standard/spurious drugs?

Unfortunately, the incidence of spurious or substandard drugs is pretty high in our country. We estimate the figures of substandard medicines there can come upto the level of around 40 per cent. It's a very serious problem. In our efforts to tackle this issue, we have brought all the border provinces under four different zones, viz., Herat, Mazar, Kandahar and Jalalabad. There will be designated officers in charge of each zone. This zonal officers will quality check all the medicines reaching through the border provinces. They will collect samples from each consignment and will dispatch them to the headquarter in Kabul for analysis. Only those consignments which are certified genuine and of high quality will be allowed to distribute to the public. We have also plans to inspect the facilities of some of the com-panies which, we came to know, are still exporting poor quality medicines into Afghanistan.

We sincerely believe that the problem of spurious drugs can be sorted out in the near future, if not immediately. At the same time we request all the companies to export only those medicines which are genuine and of high quality.