All tourists and residents of UAE will now be
required to fill in an electronic form to get approval to carry any kind of
medication for personal use, said a top Ministry of Health and Prevention, official. The Import of Personal Medication
service was launched at Gitex 2018.
The service, which is a part of the ministry’s
strategy to enhance community health, provides more supervision in the approval
of medicines being brought in by passengers through direct and indirect means.
The service is activated via the creation of a
profile on the ministry’s website, followed by the uploading of the required
documents, which will be reviewed and approved within one working day by the
ministry. The medicines will be checked at the country’s entry ports by a
ministry inspector with the cooperation of customs.
The form
The form can be downloaded free of charge from
the ministry’s website www.mohap.gov.ae.
Approvals for the medication are provided after
submitting documents such as doctor’s prescription, confirmation of a
passenger’s duration of stay and passport details among other documents.
Dr Ameen Hussain Al Amiri, assistant
undersecretary for Licencing and Public Health Policy at the ministry told Gulf
News: “In order to carry personal medication, both control and regular
medication, it is now mandatory for all passengers entering UAE to get this
prior approval from the ministry to carry their prescription-based medication.
We are doing this to control drug threats that hinder the economy and public
health.”
Dr Al Amiri said that the ministry has created
a special law for importing medicines by passengers entering the country. The
supervised medicines with a prescription are allowed for one-month entry. Other
medicines with a prescription are allowed for three-months entry. Any medicine
that does not meet these requirements will be seized at the airport.
Different embassies have been notified about
the new UAE health policies, urging them to inform passengers to avoid any
suspicious situations at the airport. The passenger should know the law even if
the medicine is legal in their country of origin, thereby there will be no
excuse for importing medicines without a prescription or categorised as drugs.
Attestation needed
Dr Al Amiri advised passengers to check with
their country’s health authorities if the medicines have any narcotic or
psychotropic substances. The prescription should be attested by the official
authorities according to the accredited assets to avoid any sanction.
Allaying fears of punitive action, Dr Al Amiri
said that if any passenger failed to get this prior approval the custom would
seize the medication.” There is no punitive action. If it is a small quantity
of non-narcotic medication, the authorities will decide if they want to allow.
In case of other kinds of control medication,
it will be seized at the port of entry without prior approval.”
This move is part of the federal health
ministry’s strategy to provide innovative, comprehensive and fair health
practices comparable to international medical standards added Dr Al Amiri.
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