Speaker Rewaz Faiq meets with Kurdistan Pharmacists Syndicate

Kurdistan Parliament Speaker Dr. Rewaz Faiq on 21 December welcomed members of the Kurdistan Pharmacists Syndicate, led by the head Dr. Barif Zahir Rashid.

Dr. Sabah Zebari (KDP), the chair of Parliament’s Health, Environment and Consumer Rights Committee, also joined the meeting.

Speaker Faiq said, “Food and medicine safety is one of the most important national issues for Kurdistan and is a matter of national security. Even the impact of political, economic and social events and circumstances is not as sensitive or important as the safety of food and medicine, because medicine is directly related to people’s lives and wellbeing. That is why in the Kurdistan Parliament we insist that medicine in Kurdistan Region should be properly controlled and supervised by the relevant health institutions. The KRG and security forces must overcome any obstacles to preventing the sale of fake and expired medicines.”

Speaker Faiq added, “We support Parliament’s Health, Environment and Consumer Rights Committee, the Ministry of Health and the Pharmacists Syndicate in efforts to pass or amend any legislation that will prevent the smuggling of expired and counterfeit medicine.“

Dr. Barif Zahir said, "We always carry out our responsibilities, which are set out in our Syndicate’s procedures and guidelines, to monitor in great detail the general situation of medicines, their storage and the Ministry of Health’s permissions. But some of the provisions of Iraq’s Law No. 40 of 1970 are not appropriate for our times. We cannot take any action that is not permitted by the law.”

Speaker Faiq expressed her support for amending the law based on Iraq's 1970 Law No. 40 in order to update it for current times, to increase the authority of health institutions and to prevent and investigate any violations that harm the public’s health.