{"id":330,"date":"2025-07-17T10:56:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T10:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/330\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T10:56:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T10:56:13","slug":"govt-to-introduce-medical-code-to-curb-sale-of-counterfeit-drugs-says-cs-duale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/330\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt to Introduce Medical Code to Curb Sale of Counterfeit Drugs, Says CS Duale"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ministry of Health has announced plans to roll out a new medical code starting next week, aimed at regulating the distribution and sale of medicines across Kenya.<\/p>\n

Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale made the announcement during a working tour in Kisumu, where he commissioned state-of-the-art CT scan and mammogram machines at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) under the National Equipment Service Program.<\/p>\n

According to Duale, the new code is intended to curb the sale of counterfeit drugs, which remains a major concern for both the government and the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He emphasized that only licensed pharmacists will be allowed to dispense drugs, a move that will lock out unqualified individuals currently operating without proper certification.<\/p>\n

Health CS Aden Duale (centre), accompanied by senior health officials and Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o (right), during the commissioning of the state-of-the-art CT Scan and Mammogram machines at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) on July 16, 2025. <\/p>\n

Photo<\/p>\n

Ministry of Health<\/p>\n

Further, the government will ensure that only medicines approved<\/a> by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board are distributed in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are introducing medicine codes into our system. If you\u2019re not a pharmacist, you will not dispense drugs. Only medicines approved by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board will reach Kenyans,\u201d Duale stated.<\/p>\n

The CS acknowledged that the yet-to-be-publicly released code could face resistance from some quarters but affirmed that the government would not be deterred.<\/p>\n

He likened the expected pushback to the backlash once faced by former Transport Minister John Michuki, who introduced tough but later praised reforms in the transport sector.<\/p>\n

Adding that, ”I know that there will be another noise next week, which I am equally ready for. So let’s buckle up.”<\/p>\n

In December last year, the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) rolled out a new technology meant to curb the rise of sub-standard drugs in the Kenyan market.<\/a><\/p>\n

In a statement, the PPB announced a collaboration with Missions for Essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS) to implement advanced Near-Infrared Technology (NIR), known as Pillscan.<\/p>\n

The technology was acquired from the Global Health Labs USA, thanks to support from the Global Fund. Part of its implementation process involves re-training of personnel, equipment qualification, and the development of a comprehensive library to support operations.<\/p>\n

Health CS Aden Duale addressing stakeholders during commissioning of the state-of-the-art CT Scan and Mammogram machines at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) on July 16, 2025. <\/p>\n

Photo<\/p>\n

Aden Duale <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ministry of Health has announced plans to roll out a new medical code starting next week, aimed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490],"class_list":{"0":"post-330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}