Yesterday, the first edition of the Arab Health Authorities Exhibition and Conference kicked off in Manama, Bahrain, with the participation of the Egyptian Drug Authority as a representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Dr. Ayman Khatib, Deputy Chairman of the Egyptian Drug Authority, participated in the event, which was attended by His Excellency Lieutenant General Dr. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Supreme Health Council of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Dr. Jalila bint Sayed Jawad Hassan, Minister of Health of Bahrain, Dr. Ahmed Al Ansari, CEO of the National Health Regulatory Authority of the Kingdom, Dr. Hisham Al Jadhai, CEO of the Saudi Food and Drug Authority, Dr. Awad Al Katbi, Director-General of the Dubai Health Authority, Dr. Ahmed Saeed Al Wakil, Assistant Undersecretary for Drug and Food Control at the Ministry of Health of the State of Kuwait, Dr. Nizar Mahayda, Director-General of the Food and Drug Administration in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and a select group of leaders from other Arab health authorities.
In his speech, the Deputy Chairman of the Drug Authority reviewed the establishment of the authority and its affiliation with the Egyptian Council of Ministers, as well as its responsibilities for the regulatory aspects of various pharmaceutical matters, starting with pharmaceutical, herbal, and veterinary drugs, moving on to cosmetics and disinfectants, and ending with medical supplies and blood products.
When discussing the Egyptian pharmaceutical market, Khatib referred to the enormous Egyptian pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities that have witnessed remarkable growth in recent years. These achievements have enabled Egypt to rank first regionally in achieving self-sufficiency in drugs at a rate of 91.3%, compared to the actual imports of 8.7%, which has been praised by global credit rating agencies such as Fitch, which indicated that Egypt is strengthening its position as the largest producer of drugs in the Middle East and Africa through the review of some relevant economic studies and analyses.
He also pointed out that the authority has obtained various international accreditations, in line with global requirements and to reach the performance levels set by the World Health Organization for measuring the performance of regulatory authorities (GBT). This enhances the position of the Egyptian Drug Authority as a regulatory body that other countries can rely on in making pharmaceutical regulatory decisions, in addition to highlighting Egypt's selection - as the first country in the Middle East - to receive advanced technology for the production of vaccines in the African continent.
Discussing the efforts of the Egyptian Drug Authority regionally at the African and Arab levels, he explained that the Egyptian Drug Authority is working in close harmony with continental institutions such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) to achieve regulatory alignment and reference adoption, which contributes significantly to accelerating the availability of medicines to patients, reducing time, cost, and effort.
In addition to the Arab Drug Agency ""Wa'ad"", where the Arab Republic of Egypt was unanimously chosen as its permanent headquarters on the sidelines of the 114th session of the Economic and Social Council of the League of Arab States, held in September of this year. The importance of this was highlighted as it represents a significant economic opportunity to drive growth by attracting investment and facilitating the movement of pharmaceutical trade in the region, in addition to achieving Arab integration in improving public health and ensuring access to safe and effective medicines for a leading pharmaceutical and health system.
This comes within the framework of the Egyptian Drug Authority's efforts to coordinate and integrate with its counterparts in Arab countries to develop Arab health systems and enhance the regulation and quality assurance of medical products circulated in the Arab region."