The Minister of Health, Dr. Ahmed Al-Awadi confirmed that the study to reduce medicine prices is in its final stages and will be implemented as soon as possible. According to Al Qabas newspaper, the official stated, in response to the inquiry posed by Representative Abdullah Jassem Al-Mudhaf, that Kuwait is one of the countries committed to quickly applying the unified Gulf prices, as evidenced in the 2020 study in which the prices of 365 medicines were reduced. He added that the price differences between the GCC countries are due to the differences in currency conversion and profit margins approved in each country, which the leaders of the countries set the upper cap of 45 percent in the Supreme Council meeting in Riyadh in 2006.
Moreover, the minister stated that Kuwait is considered one of the cheapest Gulf countries in terms of export price, since the introduction of CIF prices (the prices of exporting medicine including shipping and insurance) approved in the Gulf, in which the commitment of the MoH did not lag behind as it has refrained from applying any discounted price for any substance during the past years. He also mentioned that the Gulf Health Council holds a meeting of the Gulf Cosmetics Pricing Committee approximately every three months to study and compare the prices of Gulf medicines.
Accordingly, MoH began studying price reductions in 2014 coinciding with the Gulf price unification project, and lists of reduced prices for the first groups were published in March 2015, after which lists of price reductions were published one after the other annually until there are 4,513 reduced prices of medicines in the country.
Furthermore, the Minister added that all pharmacies are subject to the regulations set by the Ministry in terms of prices, as the Medicines Inspection Department in the MoH follows up on the commitment of private pharmacies to the law regarding the practice of the profession and the circulation of medicines, which stipulates that the sale of medicines in pharmacies, warehouses and pharmaceutical factories is subject to the prices decided by the Ministry, and the price must be written on each drug package from abroad in a clear Arabic handwriting. Notification to remove or correct the price is sent to the pharmacy and violation is referred to the Legal Affairs Department and then the Public Prosecution for necessary legal measures.
