The role of regulatory impact assessment: privatisation, social welfare services and its alternatives of Sudan

Objective: The strategy of price liberalisation and privatisation had been implemented in Sudan over the last decade, and has had a positive result on government deficit. The investment law approved recently has good statements and rules on the above strategy in particular to pharmacy regulations. Under the pressure of the new privatisation policy, the government introduced radical changes in the pharmacy regulations. To improve the effectiveness of the public pharmacy, resources should be switched towards areas of need, reducing inequalities and promoting better health conditions. Medicines are financed either through cost sharing or full private. The role of the private services is significant.Methods: The article proposal was discussed to identify and improve the quality of medicines in Sudan. The survey was deliberately drug importers biased, as low quality medicines from informal sources will affect their business. The authors then designed a self-administered questionnaire of 14 close-ended questions and one open question. Before starting the data collection, ethical clearance was obtained from the Federal Ministry of Health (MOH)-Research Ethics Committee.Results: The finding of this article indicates the application procedures of the current measures to ensure the quality of medicines should be revisited. The technical complexity of regulations, political, commercial and social implications, makes necessary a degree of mutual trust between concerned stakeholders (i.e., suppliers, doctors, pharmacists, consumer representatives and government agencies).Conclusions: The study reveals the need for further research to find out how efficient the regulatory authorities at both federal and state levels are. The research also needed to discover whether or not counterfeit medicines are sold on the Sudanese market.