The Health Department has rejected claims by the Democratic Alliance (DA) that it was not doing anything to stop the influx of unregulated alternative medicines into the country.
Department spokesperson Sibani Mngadi on Thursday said a lot was being done to prevent the distribution of bogus medicines in the country.
”Contrary to the claims by the DA, the Department of Health is making efforts to regulate complementary medicines.
”The Medicines Control Council [MCC], which is charged with regulating medicines in the country, has called for producers of complementary medicines to submit their products,” he said.
At the party’s press briefing on Thursday morning, DA health spokesperson Mike Waters told reporters that several alternative medicines banned in other countries had easily found their way into the South African market.
”It is puzzling, therefore, that the minister of health three years ago initiated a system for the regulation of alternative medicines, but refuses to follow through with implementing it.
”It is also puzzling that South Africa’s medicines regulatory authority, the MCC, refuses to use the mechanisms available to it to protect consumers,” Waters said.
Waters claimed that this ”regulatory vacuum had turned the alternative-medicines marketplace into a free-for-all”.
Countering the claims, Mngadi said the MCC had so far received at least 20 000 products for assessment.
”Of these, 14 000 have been assessed to establish their contents. Progress is also being made in establishing a regulatory framework for evaluation and registration of these medicines.”
Draft regulations had already been developed and published for public comment, Mngadi said. — Sapa