Health centres in Bahrain including the Salmaniya Medical Complex will soon provide residents with 1,400 types of drugs to counter a range of diseases, said a top official.

At least 200 new medicines will also be available, Health Ministry materials management director and Bahrain Pharmacists’ Society chairperson Sahar Al Qahtani was quoted as saying in a report in our sister newspaper, the Gulf Daily News.

The ministry purchases drugs worth BD26 million ($67 million) as part of the GCC Unified Purchase Programme. This will cover 90 per cent of the ministry’s needs while 10 per cent are bought through local tenders, she said.

The government has increased the budget for medicines, with BD40 million to be allocated this year – up from BD35 million last year, she said.

Al Qahtani denied the existence of fake medicines stating that strict rules were in place to curb the sale of counterfeits, said a report in our sister publication Akhbar Al Khaleej. – TradeArabia News Service