State Pharma opens its first pharmacy at IGMH

State Pharmaceutical and Medical Supply Corporation (State Pharma) – a company established to expand access to essential medicine - has opened its very first pharmacy.

The pharmacy, located at the Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH)’s Outpatient Department (OPD) area, was inaugurated on Wednesday morning in a ceremony attended by State Pharma’s managing director Dr. Shah Mahir, Male' City Group of Hospitals’s CEO Ibrahim Abdul Razzaq Haleem, and other senior officials.

The State Pharma IGMH Pharmacy is in the same location where the State Trade Organization (STO)’s pharmacy was previously located.

In a statement on Wednesday, State Pharma said that the main purpose of opening the pharmacy was to provide people with easy access to good quality medicine and medical equipment.

This marks a key milestone in efforts initiated by the government to provide a permanent solution to the shortage of medicine in the country, said the company.

The pharmacy will be open 24/7.

In addition to issuing medicine for doctor’s prescriptions, the pharmacy will also have common medicines available for sale.

According to State Pharma, the pharmacy also offers a mechanism where it will supply medicine that aren’t available in the Maldives within 14 days that patients submit their prescriptions.

State Pharma said that it is also working on establishing a special arrangement with IGMH that will allow it to directly supply medicine and medical equipment and devices needed by patients admitted at the hospital.

The government previously announced that over 190 pharmacies currently run under STO will be transferred to the management of State Pharma, which says it aims to ensure a steady supply of medicine to “every citizen in every island”.

The company launched a dedicated portal and the 24/7 hotline 1505 last month.