MEDIA STATEMENT
BY THE
INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY
Health Committee curbs Minister's powers
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IFP PRESS
STATEMENT RELEASED BY: 19th August 2008 The IFP whole-heartedly endorses today's move by the PC of health to do away with the proposed two tier structure of the Medicine Regulatory Authority. Civil society, from all quarters, was united in its opposition to this provision, which would have given the Minister of Health draconian powers over which medicines could or could not be registered. However, until it becomes clear that the newly constituted Medicine Regulatory Authority functions on the basis of science and acts independently of Ministerial interference we can not be confident that the Minister will be unable to interfere arbitrarily to influence medicine registration. Since there is no provision in the legislation for definitions of various categories of medicines, such as homeopathic, complementary, herbal or African traditional, currently grouped together as products, and these definitions will only appear in regulations, there is the possibility of confusion and arbitrariness in the way these matters are dealt with in future. The wide range of persons (from consumer organizations to the medicines industry) who made submission to the committee can take heart from the current split in the ANC which has enabled a degree of freedom of thought in the committee resulting in this significant curbing of the Minister's power. It has demonstrated how valuable it is for Parliament to be part of a vibrant democracy rather than a rubber stamp of the executive.
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