Vice Minister of Public Health Cao Minh Quang said any of the nation’s 40,000 pharmacies that have not met the Good Pharmacy Practices (GPP) standards by set deadlines will be forced to close.

Addressing a seminar on GPP in Hanoi on June 17, the Vice Minister added that development of GPP drugstores is supported for the community’s health.

The application of GPP standards is one of two major tasks of the country’s policies on drugs that aim to ensure the safety in drug use of people.

Quang also said his ministry plans to coordinate with relevant agencies to give tax incentives to pharmacies, allowing them import drugs directly and to popularise drug-control software.

According to the Public Health Ministry’s statistics, so far 83 pharmacies in Vietnam have obtained GPP standards and these pharmacies are mainly based in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Under the ministry’s plan, all pharmacies in the nation’s two major cities have to meet the GPP standards by late 2008 and others nationwide, by 2011.

he ministry said between 60 and 80 percent of Vietnamese usually buy medicines directly from pharmacies, so GPP standards are necessary for people’s health. (VNA)