KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 — The Health Ministry today confirmed it is extending a logistics and distribution concession with Pharmaniaga Berhad to supply the government with medicine for 10 more years.
The local pharmaceutical company was previously given a conditional agreement for 10 years in January last year, which was subject to terms and conditions that were initially supposed to be finalised before last December 31.
The deadline was then extended to June this year.
“We really need them and it is our responsibility to try and help them since it’s a GLC,” Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said, using the initials for government-linked company.
Pharmaniaga was previously under the financially troubled PN17 category on Bursa Malaysia after posting RM607.32 million for the financial year that ended December 31, 2022 against a net profit of RM172.15 million in 2021.
The company had attributed it to the RM552 million provision for “slow-moving stocks of Covid-19 vaccines”.
Dr Zaliha was speaking at Zecon Hotel in Cheras after attending a town hall session on a proposed Health White Paper.
She also advised the public to return expired or unused medical drugs to any hospital instead of throwing them away indiscriminately as they could harm the environment.
She said it will incur extra cost for the government if medicines are not disposed of properly.
“The incurred cost for this will be around RM2,000 to RM3,000.
“In MOH we have a system to dispose of drugs properly. There is a Pharmacy Department that acts on the matter,” she said.
