National launch of MeTA Kyrgyzstan

Posted on 28 April 2009

On 16 April 2009, the MeTA project was officially launched in Bishkek, the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic. 

The event started a broad dialogue on pharmaceutical issues involving all interested stakeholders. This dialogue will continue in the MeTA Council and annual MeTA forums in the country. A resolution was made during the launch and national and regional mass media attended.

Background

The Kyrgyz Republic Ministry of Health (MOH) expressed interest to participate in the pilot phase of MeTA in 2007. Scoping missions explored the potential and feasibility for a MeTA pilot in the Kyrgyz Republic and concluded that the stakeholders, such as the Government, civil society organisations (CSOs) and the private sector recognise the need to improve access to effective, low-cost and good quality medicines.

The Kyrgyz Republic MeTA National Secretariat was established in November 2008., and the Council in early 2009. The MeTA Council includes representatives from the Government, CSOs and the private sector. The Director General of the Drug Regulation Authority (DRA), Mr Rustam Kurmanov, was elected as Head of the MeTA Council. The Council and the National Secretariat prepared and organised the launch of MeTA in Kyrgyzstan.

The launch

Participants at the launch included senior representatives from the Kyrgyz Republic Government, the MOH, CSOs, the private sector, and educational institutions.

Opening remarks by the Kyrgyz Republic MOH, the Presidential Administration, the MeTA International Secretariat, and World Health Organization (WHO) representatives noted the high level of interest and timeliness of the initiative for the country.

Mr Karataev, the MOH first Deputy Minister, stated that the ministry puts continuous efforts into improving the situation in the pharmaceutical sector to ensure better access to essential medicines for the population. He highlighted some national programmes developed and implemented in line with the health system reforms, such as; the State Guarantees Program (SGP) and Additional Drug Program (ADP), and the Mandatory Health Insurance Fund (MHIF). These programmes aim to improve the availability and accessibility of essential medicines to the population. However, he also noted that some issues such as the availability of poor quality, falsified and counterfeited medicines in the market remain unresolved. These issues require attention and innovative approaches. He said that the MeTA initiative is a timely project which can provide an innovative approach and has potential to draw attention and help to address these issues in the Kyrgyz Republic. The representative from the President’s Administration supported the MOH statement and confirmed the interest of the Government to support the MeTA initiative.

In the opening remarks, the WHO and MeTA International Secretariat representatives welcomed and congratulated the participants on the launch of MeTA in the country.

The MeTA Secretariat, government offices, national and international CSOs (HAI Global and CitiHope) and the private sector also gave presentations.

Presentations by government organisations such as Drug Regulation Authority and Mandatory Health Insurance Fund, informed participants on the complex changes in the healthcare system and government initiatives and programmes related to pharmaceuticals. It was noted that over the last decade, the Kyrgyz Republic has reformed the health system, endorsed a National Drug Policy, developed and revised its Essential Medicines list, created a drug regulation system, and facilitated the privatisation of the pharmaceutical sector. Comprehensive information was presented on the government programmes aiming to ensure the availability of medicines in the country as well as making medicines accessible to the population. At the same time, the presentations by the government institutions expressed concerns related to the poor quality of medicines and proposed to address them through further strengthening the pharmaceutical system.

The CSO presentations focused on the successful examples and opportunities of the work between CSOs and the Government. For example, the Asthma Association presentation demonstrated successful joint work with the Government so that patients with asthma get both support in medicine supplies through government programmes and health services from family doctors at the primary health care level. The presentation suggested that more needs to be done to raise awareness among the general population and health professionals on asthma treatment and existing programmes.

CSO presentations demonstrated their ability to conduct research and analysis, identify issues and develop recommendations for the Government. The results of an analysis by the Society of Rational Drug Use of the current Essential Medicine List (EML), market situation, and pharmacies distribution in the country provides evidence for a number of issues in the pharmaceutical sector. Its findings show that 51 (16 per cent) of the 319 medicines in the national EML are not even registered in the country and five per cent of the medicines in the list have a high cost. The analysis also demonstrates that only 25 per cent of the existing pharmacies are located in rural areas. Some other issues highlighted in the analysis were: insufficient promotion of generic medicines; the availability of poor quality, counterfeited medicines in the market; and aggressive marketing by some of the pharmaceutical companies.

CSO presentations showed they can bring new perspectives to collaborative working, and can work with the Government to improve transparency and accountability through changes in the legislation and participation in state-funded programmes.

The private sector presentations focused on pricing schemes in the country and suggested some recommendations on how to engage with private sector. The key recommendations included:

• To add pharmaceutical associations representing the private sector to the MeTA Council;
• To ensure a participatory process and take into account customers' preferences while developing a website for the DRA;
• To agree jointly on research activities and select research institutions on a competitive base;
• To maintain dialogue with the private sector on national programmes such as the State Guarantees Program, and
• To include activities on improving pharmaceutical education.