Kandahar Customs head denies delay in medicines clearance

KANDAHAR (Pajhwok): Customs officials in southern Kandahar province have rejected traders’ claims that their medicine imports are delayed for months due to the protracted process of customs clearance.

The Kandahar Customs director says the customs clearance process of medicines has been ongoing normally, but medicines brought without legal documents in the form of parcel and without official license of the company are impounded by the National Food and Drug Authority.

A few days ago, Abdul Basir Piman, head of the Kandahar Pharmaceutical Traders Association, told Pajhwok that 150 vehicles loaded with medicines were awaiting customs clearance over the past two and a half months.

Piman said the quality of the drugs would be harmed if they were not cleared soon.

However, Kandahar customs director Maulvi Muhammad Hamid Ahmad told Pajhwok that Piman’s claims were not true.

“Only about 100 vehicles loaded with drugs in the form of parcel were stopped by the National Food and Drug Authority. The vehicles were allowed to proceed in line with a joint decision of the authority, the Kandahar Economic Council and the Medicines Union and the provincial authority.”

He said currently the National Food and Drug Authority impounded medicines that were brought in the form of parcel (belti).

He said checking the quality and other related matters of food and drugs was the duty of the National Food and Drug Authority, which was independent in its actions and had nothing to do with the customs.

He said it was the National Food and Drug Authority’s responsibility to ensure the quality and safety of imported medicines and food.

Ahmad said previously customs duty on medicines was paid according to their weight, but now they were taxed according to ‘TC Code’ based on the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA), which caused no delay.

He said the main problem was between the National Food and Drug Authority and traders. He said traders used to import medicines in the form of parcel, but it was not allowed by the authorities concerned.

He said still a quantity of medicines which had been brought illegally or in the form of parcel remained in the customs office. However, he did not provide any figures.

National Food and Drug Authority director Hafiz Hamidullah asked traders to import medicines that contained forms, invoices and analysis reports so their prices and quality could be controlled.

He told Pajhwok that businessmen had been repeatedly asked not to import medicines in the form of parcel because it was illegal. He said laboratory analysis of medicines and good was important to know their quality.

About the lack of a laboratory in Kandahar, he said the government had promised to set up a drug and food analysis laboratory soon in the province. He said there were no medicines at the customs office which they had not processed or analyzed.

In the past, many medicines were brought in the form of parcels, but this practice has been seriously prevented because it caused a big loss in terms of quality and price, he explained.

Medicines worth one billion dollars are imported to Afghanistan annually, with the bulk or 78 percent arriving through Kandahar alone.

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