TEHRAN – A delegation from Afghanistan’s Food and Drug Administration met with Iranian counterparts in Tehran on Wednesday to explore the potential for expanding ties in the health sector.

The delegation, led by Mawlawi Hamdullah Zahid, held a meeting with Hamidreza Inanlou, an official with Iran’s FDA, to boost collaborations in supplying medicine and medical equipment, sharing technical expertise, and developing interactions between the two countries, ISNA reported.    

One of the core areas of collaboration is the facilitation of assessment and the acceleration of registration of Iranian-made medicines and medical devices to meet the pharmaceutical needs of Afghanistan in the shortest possible time.  

Providing technical training in quality control in laboratories and drug registration is another main component of the cooperation. 

The two sides also highlighted the implementation of a formerly drafted memorandum of understanding (MOU) and the development of interactions in the regulation of medicines and medical equipment.

The MOU considers the pilot implementation of a Tracking, Tracing, and Authentication Center in one of the cities of Afghanistan, in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Iran will continue to empower Afghan human resources through holding short educational courses as well as accepting them to major in Iranian universities. Moreover, sharing knowledge and technology via collaborative projects with Afghan companies to set up production lines inside Afghanistan will be put on the agenda.

The executive action plan for cooperation will be developed and finalized after supplementary negotiations on the sidelines of the meetings.

On December 4, Iranian and Afghan officials discussed ways to promote cooperation between the two countries in the pharmaceutical and medical equipment fields.

The head of the FDA, Mehdi Pirsalehi, and his Afghan counterpart, Hamdullah Zahid, drafted a memorandum of understanding (MOU), highlighting the need for the enhancement of technical and regulatory cooperation in the food, drug, and medical equipment sectors, ISNA reported.

The officials met on the sidelines of the Afghan Health Exhibition, held from December 2 to 4, in Kabul.

Attending the meeting, representatives of Iranian and Afghan companies also raised their issues regarding medical product registration, the timeline for issuing licenses, and the process of importing medicines and medical equipment.

Forty Iranian knowledge-based firms are participating in the Afghan Health Exhibition. Pirsalehi paid a visit to the Iranian pavilions in the exhibition to support them.

The three-day event provided a valuable platform for knowledge-based companies to showcase their latest products and achievements in the healthcare sector. They also sought to establish a permanent presence in Afghanistan’s market.

Self-sufficiency in medicine, medical equipment

The issue of medicine and medical equipment production and self-sufficiency in these areas is one of the government’s priorities, Health Minister Mohammad-Reza Zafarqandi has said.

Medicine and medical equipment are two important areas related to people’s health, he said, adding: “We are trying to reach self-sufficiency for the supply of medicine and medical equipment,” IRNA reported.

On January 13, the head of Iran’s Union of Medical Equipment Manufacturers and Exporters said that medical equipment worth around $20 million is exported to more than 60 countries annually.

More than 70 percent of medical equipment and 100 percent of normal hospital beds are domestically made, IRNA quoted Abdolreza Yaqoubzadeh as saying.

Also, over 95 percent of specific ICU and CCU beds and more than 85 percent of operating room medical equipment, such as anesthesia machines and other equipment, are manufactured with cutting-edge technology in the country, he added.

Yaqoubzadeh went on to say that the country’s need for medical equipment production is three to four billion dollars per year, some one billion dollars of which is imported.

MT/MG