Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) announced that it had detected 47 violating facilities and imposed a total fine of SR2,60,83,000.

The SFDA confirmed that it had detected violations during its monitoring and inspection rounds in August of this year in all regions of Saudi Arabia.

They are as follows:

- 20 facilities did not commit to providing pharmaceutical products to the local market, as it imposed a fine of SR773,000.

- 7 facilities did not commit to registering in the monitoring system "Rasd", and were imposed a fine of SR210,000.

- 20 facilities did not commit to reporting directly about the movement of drugs in the electronic tracking system to the competent authorities, and were imposed a fine of SR2,51,00,000.

The SFDA clarified that it obliges pharmaceutical factories and warehouses to have sufficient stock for a period of 6 months of all of their products that have been registered in the authority.

The obligation is mandatory after the new decision at the beginning of this year, which gave the authority the responsibility to set penalties for violations that are monitored in all regions of the Kingdom.

The authority said that consumers could inform the Ministry of Health if they notice that medicines are not available in hospitals or pharmacies.