The Standards and Regulations Division of the Ministry of Health, with support from Health Policy Plus (HP+), has published a Complaint Management System (CMS) Manual and Toolkit that is to inform the delivery of health services to the public.

With the Ministry’s increased focus on patient-centred care, the manual forms part of its ongoing efforts to strengthen its Client Complaint Mechanism (CCM) and overall CMS.

• The CMS aims to improve the quality of service delivery in the public health sector by, among other things:
• collecting feedback from internal and external clients;
• providing a means for failures and/or complaints to be investigated; and
• providing redress to clients.

This current manual is now aligned with the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 9001, Quality Management Systems – Requirements (2008) and outlines clear processes for accessing, documenting, investigating and resolving customer complaints.

It also includes a monitoring and evaluation framework that ensures complaint data is captured for quality improvement activities and programme and policy development.

For more information go to https://www.moh.gov.jm/health-ministry-delivers-complaint-management-system-manual-toolkit/

[Original text in Portuguese]

Reduced queues for drug certification and analysis time for rare disease treatments are among the major breakthroughs.

Reduction of the queues for drug certification and the time of analysis for treatments of rare diseases, and increased import of products destined for research are among the main advances of Anvisa in 2017 presented by the CEO Jarbas Barbosa. He attended the Social Affairs Committee (CAS), chaired by Senator Marta Suplicy (MDB-SP), on Wednesday (4) to detail the Agency’s Activities Report 2017.

For more information go to http://portal.anvisa.gov.br/rss/-/asset_publisher/Zk4q6UQCj9Pn/content/id/4615665

The CARPHA/CRS recently reviewed and recommended to CARICOM Member States its first reproductive health product, Levoplant. The product, made by Shanghai Dahua Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., was prequalified by the World Health Organization on June 30, 2017, meaning it meets the United Nations standards of safety, efficacy, and quality for all its procurement programs. It has also been approved for country program purchase by the United Nations Population Fund. The CRS verified that the product the manufacturer intends to sell in CARICOM is the same as the prequalified version.

The active ingredient, levonorgestrel, prevents pregnancies by inhibiting or altering ovulation and thickening the cervical mucus. The product provides long term (up to 3 years of use) but reversible contraception, and becomes active when inserted into the upper arm. CARICOM Member States will now have an additional option for quality, affordable hormonal implants if they register this medicine.

More information about the product can be found on the manufacturer’s partner websites, including FHI 360.  Click here.

Source: http://carpha.org/What-We-Do/Laboratory-Services-and-Networks/CRS

The May 2018 issue of the digital journal of the Medicines Information Association (DIA), entitled DIA Global Forum, aimed at offering global and regional expertise on the discovery, development, regulation, surveillance and commercialization of products for the health, presents an article on the Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (CPP)Project written by the focal points of the project, D.S Celeste Sánchez in CECMED and Dr. Jaime Oliveira in FIFARMA, named “CPP Requirements for Medicines Registration in the Region of the Americas. A PANDRH CPP Project “. Access to the full text of this work is here.

We hope you enjoy reading the article and join the CPP Project Community in the PRAIS Platform of PAHO where you can find additional information about the Project.

Source: http://www.cecmed.cu/content/en-curso-proyecto-de-la-red-parf-coordinado-por-cecmed-y-fifarma

Posting date: June 22, 2018

OTTAWA – With the growing availability of fentanyl test strips on store shelves and online, Health Canada would like to remind Canadians of the potential limitations when using fentanyl test strips to detect fentanyl or other deadly substances in street drugs before consuming them.

No fentanyl test strips are specifically designed to check street drugs before consumption. Some strips are designed to detect fentanyl and some analogs (similar chemicals, such as carfentanil) in an individual’s urine sample to determine whether they have taken the drug. Others are designed to detect fentanyl and some analogs in substances that are, for example, seized by law enforcement. Therefore, it is important that people who are using fentanyl test strips to check street drugs before consuming them understand the limitations and use the necessary precautions.

Health Canada is reminding Canadians that to help prevent a fatal overdose, it is important to treat all street drugs as though they are potentially contaminated with unknown deadly substances.

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For more information go to http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2018/67106a-eng.php