TOXIC DRUGS MUST BE STORED IN A SEPARATE AREA
On May 10, 2017, the Ministry of Health issued the Circular No. 20/2017/TT-BYT dated May 10, 2017 of the Ministry of Health on detailing a number of articles of the Law on Pharmacy and the Decree No. 54/2017/ND-CP dated May 08, 2017 of the Government on detailing a number of articles of and providing measures for implementing the Pharmacy Law.
This Circular prescribes that health facilities, rehabilitation centers, pharmacy research or training institutions, organizations having non-commercial pharmacy-related activities shall comply with Good Storage Practice standards. Narcotic drugs, psychotropic drugs, precursor drugs, medicinal ingredients that are narcotic active ingredients, psychotropic active ingredients, drug precursors must be stored in separated and locked warehouses or cabinet. If separate warehouses or cabinets are not available, narcotic drugs may be stored in the same cabinet as psychotropic drugs and precursor drugs but they must be marked and separated from each other; Psychotropic drugs of a local medical station must be stored in locked cabinet and monitored by a specific person; Combined drugs that contain narcotic active ingredients, psychotropic active ingredients or precursors must be stored in a separate area….
The drug manager's qualifications must be suitable for the controlled drugs under his/her management. Regarding narcotic drugs and narcotic active ingredients, the manager of the hospital pharmacy shall have a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy or a higher degree, the managers of other facilities shall have an associate degree in pharmacy or a higher degree; regarding psychotropic drugs, precursor drugs, medicinal ingredients that are psychotropic active ingredients and drug precursors, the manager shall have an associate degree in pharmacy or a higher degree. If no one in a local medical station has the required qualification, the head of the medical station shall assign, in writing, a person who has a medical assistant qualification or higher.
This Circular takes effect on July 01, 2017.
