Health Secretary Sicily Kariuki has stated that Kenya was planning to set up a single regulatory agency to regulate and harmonise the local pharmaceutical industry. The initiative was also in accordance with decisions made by the Sectoral Council of East African Community Ministers of Health and the 71st World Health Assembly of the United Nations.“The government wants to align pharmaceutical requirements with international standards by having a single regulatory agency for all medical products and health technologies,” she said. Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) and the National Quality Control Board and several other bodies are now engaged in the enforcement of standards
Ms. Kariuki, whose speech was read at a ceremony to mark the attainment of ISO 9001:2015 certification by PPB cautioned against the possibility or rules becoming an obstacle to access to quality medicine and health technologies. She pointed out that the role of regulation should be to safeguard public health but should not act as an impediment to access to health products and health technologies.
