Herbal medicine to be regulated in the UAE

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has announced that it has put together a list of rules and regulations on the distribution and sales of herbal based medicines in the country said Dr Amin Hussain Al Amiri, Executive Director of Medical Practices and Licensing Affairs at the ministry.

In a report published in the Arabic local daily Al Ittihad, Al Amiri said that the rules and regulations will come into effect next month. He said that this is the first time ever that a concrete effort has been taken to streamline the sale and distribution of herbal based medicines and products.

Al Amiri said that once the regulations comes into effect next month, the MoH will be the sole authority in approving registration and import of these herbal based medicines.

Currently there are more than a thousand herbal based medicines in the UAE market, of which over half of them are unregistered.