With the recent increase in the price of cigarettes, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh is warning that this may result in a flourishing suitcase trade as there may be greater demand for the commodity.
Deyalsingh, who made the comments during yesterday’s Standing Finance Committee session on budgetary allocations held in Parliament, also urged greater efficiency from the Customs and Excise Division.
The matter was raised by Tabaquite MP Suruj Rambachan who expressed concern over the packaging of drugs in foreign languages which were increasingly being sold in this country.
Deyalsingh said even while he was a pharmacist back in the 1980s he brought the issue to the fore.
“What started off as a suitcase trade with drugs coming in suitcases is now a flourishing trade not only in drugs but in cigarettes and every other commodity where there is high demand for.
“The increased taxation on local cigarettes is going to give rise to more suitcase trade in cigarettes so we have a problem at our ports of entry,” Deyalsingh said.
He said the ministry was currently trying to beef up its drug inspectorate since there were no officers who worked on a 24-hour basis at the ports.
“We have an issue to address with Customs to ensure that not only drugs but cigarettes and everything else that comes into this country are duly licensed,” Deyalsingh said.
Pressed whether the drugs currently consumed by the public may not have passed stringent checks, the minister said this was a possibility.
He said another challenge was a shortage of health officers to visit pharmacies.
But he urged that pharmacists had an ethical obligation to members of the public to ensure the drugs were safe, adding that the pharmaceutical sector needed to be regulated.
Regarding the drug shortage he said drugs were coming into the country weekly but there was a global shortage of certain drugs including morphine.
While the Health Ministry has been allocated just over $5 billion in this year’s fiscal package, Deyalsingh said several challenges needed to be addressed, as there was a gap between the “vision and the reality.”
“The reality is there are long waiting lines at hospitals for certain types of surgeries. We have a lack of operating theatre space, surgical services are not always available and surgeon availability,” Deyalsingh said.
To address this, he said, more in-house surgeries were being done.
Deyalsingh also said there were some 457 vacancies which needed to be filled covering a wide range of services including nurses and medical officers.
Most of these positions, he said, have to be filled by the public service department.
He said the ministry was also placing greater emphasis on the fight against non-communicable diseases.
On the efficiency of the Insect Vector Control Division, he said officers were working above and beyond the call of duty as some 529,897 homes were visited, some of which may be repeat visits.
Regarding recruitment for the Couva Children’s Hospital, Deyalsingh said it was not yet determined what type of services would be needed as there must first be a public-private consultation regarding this.
He again dismissed claims that the facility would not be used.