The Ministry of Health tightens control over psychotropic substances

The Minister of Health, Mohamed Siddiq Ait Messaoudane, revealed a package of new measures aimed at tightening control over the dispensing of medications with psychotropic properties, in the context of the ministry’s efforts to reduce the phenomenon of addiction and misuse of this type of medication.

This came in the minister’s response to a written question submitted by Representative in the National People’s Assembly Rabah Jeddou, where he confirmed that the dispensing of these medications is currently subject to a strict legal framework based on Executive Decree No. 19-379 issued in December 2019, which regulates administrative, technical and security control mechanisms, in addition to the joint ministerial decision issued in August 2021 that includes a list of substances at risk of overuse and addiction.

Ait Masoudane announced that the Ministry has begun preparing a draft of a new executive decree that regulates the conditions and methods for prescribing and dispensing medicines intended for human medicine. He also indicated that the Ministry is working on launching an integrated digital platform that links the various parties involved in the dispensing cycle of these medicines, with the aim of accurately tracking their path and distribution and reducing potential leakages.

Regarding cancer medicines, Ait Masoudane revealed that the central pharmacy for hospitals allocated more than 84 billion and 221 million dinars last year to acquire these medicines, equivalent to 41.5 percent of the total budget allocated to supply health institutions. He explained that the medications carboplatin, cisplatin, and trastuzumab are available in sufficient quantities in the central pharmacy’s stock, while tamoxifen is not included in the list of materials that the pharmacy acquires for public institutions.