In today's meeting, the committee sat with officials from State Trading Organization Public Limited, State Pharmaceutical and Medical Supply Corporation Limited, along with National Social Protection Agency and Aasandha Company Limited to discuss the issue submitted by North Galolhu Constituency member Mohamed Ibrahim to clarify misunderstandings arising in communications about procuring medicines unavailable in the Maldives from abroad. Below are the highlights of the meeting.

State Trading Organization Public Limited (STO)

• The company’s officials have access to live medicine stock levels across pharmacies under its management. However, hospitals and doctors do not have access to this information.
• Not all medicines on the Food and Drug Authority’s approved list are currently available, and significant challenges are faced in the importation of medicine.
• The procurement of 54 types of medicine has commenced under bulk procurement, and State Pharma will continue this work moving forward.

State Pharmaceutical and Medical Supply Corporation Limited

• Effective from 1st April 2026, a 24-hour call center has been established, and a web application (portal) has been introduced to submit requests for medicine.
• The company’s target is to deliver medicine to citizens within 14 (fourteen) days of the request being submitted.
• From 1st July 2026, the operations for importing medicine and medical consumables will be transferred under the company’s mandate.
• It will take 6 (six) months from the date of takeover to complete the transfer of STO pharmacies to the company, facilitate advance ordering of required medicines, and establish the entire necessary system. Furthermore, upon assuming these responsibilities, the corporation will implement a real-time inventory management system to ensure live monitoring of pharmaceutical stocks.

Aasandha Company Limited

• Pharmacies cannot be empaneled unless they stock the medicines included in the Essential Medicine List.
• It is the responsibility of each pharmacy to add its available medicine stock to the registry list to provide those medicines under the Aasandha scheme.
• The primary challenge in providing medicine services under the Aasandha scheme is the frequent change in imported brands. To resolve this, it has been advised to use the generic names of medicines when prescribing.

National Social Protection Agency (NSPA)

• Financial assistance continues to be provided to individuals seeking aid for the procurement of medicine.