JEDDAH, 10 November — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, have ordered a ministerial committee to be set up that will regulate the commercial advertising of medical products. The committee is expected to resolve a long-standing dispute between the Ministries of Health and Information regarding which ministry is responsible for investigating false claims made on behalf of certain medical products. Health Minister Dr. Osama Shubokshi made this statement after he attended a graduation ceremony for a course organized by an eye hospital in Jeddah.
The committee will comprise members of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Information.
The minister earlier in the year announced that his ministry had requested that the Ministry of Information should coordinate with it in banning advertisements for medical products not licensed by his ministry. The absence of such coordination had made it impossible for his ministry to protect consumers, Shubokshi said.
The ministry made the request because of the emergence of numerous adverts for products being marketed without the ministry’s approval, particularly those that claimed to be cures for incurable diseases such as cancer and AIDS.
Misfar Al-Misfar, undersecretary at the Ministry of Information, said the ministry prohibited the publication of adverts for medical products which did neither carry a license nor a registration number from the Ministry of Health.
The minister also said he anticipated the issuance of new regulations that would govern the distribution of medication in both government and private establishments.
