By Nelson Manneh
The Medicines Control Agency (MCA) on Tuesday, 7May 2024 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Service Level Agreement (SLA) with China Standards Technology Services to allow the latter to conduct pre-shipment testing of all medicines manufactured and/or sourced from China and meant for export to The Gambia, for public safety.
The agency made this disclosure in a press release issued to this medium.
The Medicines and Related Products Act 2014, established the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) with the mandate to regulate and control the manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, use, control of advertisements and promotion of medicines and related products concerned, by ensuring their quality, safety and efficacy.
The related products also include herbal medicines, cosmetics, medical devices and household chemicals and substances.
“In working towards ensuring that all imported medicines and related products meet the required quality standards, MCA has engaged China Standards Technology Services (CSTS), a private, independent and third party agent in Beijing, to offer services of shipments related to document verification, physical inspection of sample and quality testing/analysis of the samples withdrawn from the shipment, before the issuance of a clean report of inspection and analysis (CRIA) for each batch of medicines and related products,” the press release stated.
The press release further indicated that MCA and CSTS signed this Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Service Level Agreement (SLA) to allow CSTS conduct pre-shipment testing of all medicines manufactured and/ or sourced from China, before being exported to The Gambia, for the public’s safety.It added that based on this development, MCA wishes to inform all importers that effective May 1 2024, importers and their suppliers should contact CSTS with its registered office at: Add: 1-3F, 31 Xizhaosi Mid Street;DongchengDist.; Beijing, China, for all the necessary arrangements before shipping medicines from China to The Gambia.
