Alternate Health Minister Marios Salmas told reporters on Tuesday that from a laggard in issues of using IT and monitoring pharmaceuticals, Greece is becoming a model to be imitated by other countries. After presenting the program, Salmas said that the government's determination to ruthlessly crack down on corruption in the pharmaceuticals' sector.
The new system, which will go into operation next Monday, will monitor all pharmaceutical products in circulation, along the entire distribution chain from import and production to retail sales, based on the unique serial number of each authenticity tape that must be attached to every box of medicine sold. Unused authenticity tapes must be registered as faulty.
This will be the first time that such a system is put into operation worldwide.
Among others, it will prevent the sale and distribution of 'counterfeit' and possibly dangerous pharmaceuticals and also the re-use of authenticity tapes on different prescriptions.
The system, capable of tracking up to 2.5 billion serial codes, will also monitor drug levels on the entire Greek market on a 24-hour basis, ensuring that there are satisfactory reserves of necessary medication available at any given time and also providing early warning of possible epidemics.
Companies failing to comply with the requirements of the new system will be denied licences to launch new products on the market and are liable to face stiff fines under new legislation to be tabled in Parliament by Friday and passed before the end of May.
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