Kuwait\u2019s Ministry of Health has introduced stricter regulations governing pharmaceutical promotion and the activities of medical representatives in hospitals and clinics under the ministry. The new rules were issued through\u00a0Ministerial Decision No. 296 of 2026\u00a0by Health Minister Dr Ahmed Al-Awadhi, with the aim of ensuring transparency in medicine promotion and maintaining ethical standards in the healthcare sector.<\/p>
Under the new regulations, all promotional information about medicines must be\u00a0accurate and supported by scientific evidence. Pharmaceutical companies are prohibited from using claims such as \u201cthe best\u201d or \u201cthe safest\u201d without scientific evidence. Promotional materials and electronic advertisements must also receive prior approval from the Ministry of Health, while potential side effects and risks must be clearly disclosed.<\/p>
Medical representatives must obtain a\u00a0special permit from the Pharmaceutical Inspection Department\u00a0to operate in Ministry of Health facilities. The permit must be renewed annually, and representatives without a valid permit will not be allowed to work in government healthcare institutions.<\/p>
Representatives must also obtain prior permission before entering hospitals. Access to\u00a0wards, operating theatres, emergency departments and patient rooms\u00a0is prohibited. They are also not permitted to communicate directly with patients or their family members.<\/p>
The regulations prohibit pharmaceutical companies from offering doctors or other healthcare professionals\u00a0money, gifts, entertainment trips or other benefits. Representatives are also prohibited from offering any promises or incentives in exchange for prescribing or purchasing medicines.<\/p>
Measures have also been introduced to prevent attempts to influence members of committees responsible for medicine procurement and tenders.<\/p>
Medicine samples cannot be distributed directly by representatives. Instead, they must be supplied through\u00a0official channels designated by the Ministry. Samples must clearly carry the words\u00a0\u201cFree Sample\u201d\u00a0in both Arabic and English.<\/p>
Companies and representatives found violating the regulations may face disciplinary and legal action. Providing false information or attempting to influence officials will be treated as serious violations and could result in measures including cancellation of permits.<\/p>
Companies and medical representatives have been given a\u00a0three-month grace period\u00a0to comply with the new requirements. The regulations will come fully into force following their publication in the official gazette.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kuwait\u2019s Ministry of Health has introduced stricter regulations governing pharmaceutical promotion and the activities of medical representatives in hospitals and clinics under the ministry. The new rules were issued through\u00a0Ministerial Decision No. 296 of 2026\u00a0by Health Minister Dr Ahmed Al-Awadhi, with the aim of ensuring transparency in medicine promotion and maintaining ethical standards in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kuwait-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/colorsnewslive.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/colorsnewslive.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/colorsnewslive.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colorsnewslive.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colorsnewslive.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5231"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/colorsnewslive.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5233,"href":"https:\/\/colorsnewslive.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5231\/revisions\/5233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colorsnewslive.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/colorsnewslive.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colorsnewslive.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colorsnewslive.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}