And finally from Allen tonight, he was asked about legislation meant to crack down on importation of pharmaceuticals. According to the Pharmacists Association, there have been 3 new pieces of draft legislation which have been sitting on the Health CEO's desk with no progress since it landed there.
He told the media that it's only been delayed because he and other health officials want to make sure that when they are passed into law, they do the job for which they were intended:
Reporter
"They have been speaking about 3 drafts legislations, one which has already gone to the Solicitor General but that one has not been take to the House and then the other two seems to be lagging behind. Why is that the case? Why have these draft legislation not been passed? In terms of putting more penalties and restrictions in the sense of importing control drugs and stuff."
Dr. Peter Allen, CEO - Ministry of Health
"Well I know I just saw the electronic versions of these drafts just last week. The way we deal with it then is to socialize it. In this instance through our planning unit so that every member of the profession, every technical advisor get the opportunity to see what is the objective of the legislation. Normally, policies are drafted first and then legislation empowers policy. So I've ask the planning unit and the office of the DHS to review these and define the policies that we are trying to accomplish and then bring a group of people together to look through the drafts and see exactly how it can move forward from there."
Reporter
"Sir then can you tell us how long since this process actually began? I am sure that it's something that takes long, but how much longer do we have to wait before we have those in place?"
Dr. Peter Allen, CEO - Ministry of Health
"I really don't know. The planning unit will examine the process and as soon as we have that timeline and that process, we will be happy to keep you informed."
Allen says that these draft pieces of legislation are at the policy stage.
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