Ministry of Health and Prevention issues new circular covering guidelines on how to license private pharmacies and pharmacists electronically

‘Electronic licensing mechanism is an interactive platform to enhance the transparency of pharmaceutical licenses,’ says H.E. Dr. Al Amiri

The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) has announced that it will stop in manually receiving applications to license pharmacies and warehouses from March 13 2016. The move is expected to increase awareness and urge users to obtain licensure through a new online process being introduced by the Ministry. The new process falls in line with the efforts to meet the needs and requirements of MOHAP customers by providing them with world class services, particularly across all of its provided electronic services, while also keeping abreast of global best practices in licensing and pharmaceutical facilities. His Excellency Dr. Amin Hussein Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Policy and Licensing Sector for the UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention, and Vice Chairman of the Medical Licensing Committee stated that this generalization is part of the Ministry’s strategic goal of further developing the UAE’s health policy and legislation with the participation of the public and private sectors. The new licensing procedures also complement the government’s shift towards the use of electronic and smart services—which will be offered on a 24/7 basis and is expected to reach a wider customer base.   Meet the documentation and fees electronically Dr. Al Amiri pointed out that this service is the result of the joint cooperation between the MOHAP’s Pharmaceutical Licensing Administration with the Information Technology Department and also with the cooperation of the owners of the pharmaceutical facilities and pharmacists in the UAE. The development of the online process covers all the requirements and conditions of the license and all fees related to it. The circular is expected to target scientific and medical warehouses in all the emirates.   Interactive platform to facilitate licensing procedures The new system is an easy interactive platform to communicate with customers and receive their comments and notify them of any updates that may occur during the process, which contributes to enhance the transparency of the licensing procedures in addition to preserving the environment by switching from paper work to e-transactions and pay electronically fees and coordination with the Ministry of Finance. This service will enable the customer to enter the program with a private account in order to register license applications with the required documents, wherein the Ministry will review all the submitted documents according to the procedures followed in the pharmaceutical licensing procedure. Feedback will be sent to the customer to amend or complete the required documents for the licensing procedure as a prelude to grant the license for pharmacies or medical warehouses or pharmacists electronically. The implementation of the new system will now make it easy to obtain pharmaceutical licenses as it also provides the customer with a lot of time and less effort as applicants do not need to attend in person at any of the MOHAP’s offices.