On February 14th, 2023, The Romanian Medicines Serialisation Organisation (OSMR), together with The National Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices in Romania (ANMDMR) organized the conference “Patient Safety through Medicines’ Safety” which marked four years since the National Medicines Verification System (NMVS) became operational in Romania.
Romania is among the EU countries in which the enrollment degree to the National Medicines Verification System is 100%: 9,643 pharmacies, 602 hospitals and 402 wholesalers registered in the NMVS is January 2023.
Monthly, the system is registering between 47 and 65 million transactions (verification and decommissioning actions of individual medicine packs) on the Romanian market. Currently, the percentage of false alerts generated by the NMVS is 0,03% of the total transactions performed, below the target level of 0,05%.
“Statistical data show that, among all Europeans, Romanian citizens have the lowest trust level in the medical system. In this context, the existence of a solid IT system, which guarantees access to authentic medicines is a differentiating factor. The fact that the enrollment level has reached 100% in a relatively short period of time is due to the excellent collaboration between our organization and the pharmaceutical industry, from manufacturers and wholesalers to pharmacists”, Laurențiu Mihai, OSMR General Manager.
Now in its fourth edition, the “Patient Safety through Medicines’ Safety” conference brought together top decision makers in the health field, such as: the Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila; the President of the National Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices in Romania (ANMDMR), Răzvan Mihai Prisada; the President of the Public Health Committee, Senate, Adrian Streinu Cercel; OSMR President, Dan Zaharescu.
A novelty element this year was the presence of guests from Portugal and Greece: the President of the National Authority of Medicines and Health Products, Rui Santos Ivo, the President of the National Organization for Medicines, Dimitrios Filippou and the General Manager of the Medicines Verification Organisation in Portugal, Ricardo de Matos Valente.
They discussed the results after four years of serialisation in Romania, the implementation of the European Medicines Verification System in Portugal and its subsequent implementation in Greece, the challenges and benefits of the National Medicines Verification System (NMVS) for patients and industry, as well as the possible additional uses of the verification system.
