Dr. Al Amiri: Support people with special needs & strive for their

continuous development

Dr. Amiri: QR code to be added on all imported & in-country manufactured medicine packets

(Sustainability of UAE healthy community through the provision of comprehensive & responsive healthcare System)

UAE, September xx, 2015 - In line with the directives of the UAE's visionary leaders to develop innovative programs for the care and rehabilitation of visually impaired members of the community, the UAE Ministry of Health has played a key role in incorporating the rights of blind people in its 'Vision'- Sustainability of healthy UAE community through the provision of comprehensive & responsive healthcare System. The initiative is aimed to raise the level of performance of unsighted people as well as improve the standard of services for them in government and private institutions.

H.E. Dr. Amin Hussain Al Amiri, Assistant Undersecretary for Medical Practice and License Sector, Ministry of Health, and the Chairman of the UAE Supreme National Blood Transfusion Committee, said that the Ministry of Health believe in the rehabilitation of the blind and their integration into the society. Visually impaired people also possess great productive potential and can participate in the development of the community. He stated that they have the right to know about various treatments available for them.

In line with this, a series of amendments have been adopted in labels of medicine imported to the UAE, reinforcing support for innovation in the pharmaceutical sector of the country and the region. H.E. Dr. Al Amiri stated that its been decided to request UAE-based pharmaceutical companies to provide names of the medicines and its concentrations in Arabic and English Braille (Language of Visually Impaired) on the medicine labels. He pointed out that the UAE is one of the world's first countries to adopt this approach as it pays special attention to people with special needs. He further added that it would enable the blind to deal with drugs, increase their self-reliance, and reduce their dependence on others.

H.E. Dr. Amiri said: "We have decided to direct pharmaceutical companies operating in the UAE to put the quick response (QR) code to all pharmaceutical packages imported by the state, explaining that it is an applied system in a number of developed countries. The QR Code will provide complete informatics link of the medicine through electronic source on the internet, which provides full information about the medicine once code is scanned by a smartphone applications. This will enable the patient to receive complete information about the medicine, including any recent warnings and its uses."

H.E. Dr. Amiri said that the Ministry has given a six-month deadline to the pharmaceutical companies to comply with the new rules, which can be extended if required, to avoid any shortage of supply of medicines.

Emphasizing further, H.E. Dr. Al Amiri said that the Ministry stipulates all companies operating in the pharmaceutical or medical devices industries to provide its products to the visually impaired people in the UAE quickly and on urgent basis. It should be acted as a humanitarian duty on all to open up gates of light for the blind and help them discover the world around them.