The Dubai Health Authority’s (DHA) said its pharmaceutical services department has adopted a new smart system that monitors the cold chain of pharmaceuticals to preserve the quality and safety of medication in the emirate.

Cold chain is a temperature controlled supply chain, which provides an uninterrupted series of refrigerated production, storage and distribution activities to maintain the desired low temperature of consumable goods such as pharmaceuticals, said a statement from DHA.

Dr Ali Al Sayed, director of the pharmaceutical services department at DHA, pointed out that the monitoring of cold chain especially when it comes to medication is considered one of the most important global issues and one of the biggest challenges that international health organisations face as it directly affects the quality, safety and the effectiveness of the medication.  

“After conducting a series of studies on international practices in the field of smart medication management systems, the pharmaceutical services department adopted an international-standard smart system that monitors and tracks the temperatures of medication through the installation of smart devices and tablets that can be controlled and tracked electronically,” explained Al Sayed.

“These systems aim to guarantee a continuous cold chain, which will maintain the quality and safety of pharmaceutical medication. We have adopted the system with the support and guidance of Humaid Al Qatami chairman of board and director general of DHA,” he stated.

The smart system adopted by the DHA includes computer tablets incorporated with the medical refrigerators and refrigerator rooms, said Dr Al Sayed.

These tablets, he noted, will register and document the temperature automatically and they will display the data in a graph format that shows the correct temperature limits and documents them.

"The tablets will also send alerts through text messages and emails in the case that the temperature exceeded the required limit. It will provide electronic reports regarding the medical storage and safety of the medication. These systems can also be controlled electronically through their own website," he added.

According to Dr Al Sayed, the small smart technology will document the temperature while transporting the medication from the storage to the pharmacies.

These small smart devices are connected to the computer and display in graph form the temperatures the medication was subjected to through the transportation process, he added. – TradeArabia News Service