Dubai: The Dubai Health Authority’s (DHA) Pharmaceutical Services Department has announced the adoption of a smart system that monitors the cold chain of pharmaceuticals to preserve the quality and safety of medication.
Cold chain is a temperature-controlled supply chain, which provides an uninterrupted series of refrigerated production, storage and distribution activities to maintain the desired low temperature of consumable goods such as pharmaceuticals.
Dr Ali Al Syed, director of the Pharmaceutical Services Department at the DHA, said in a statement on Wednesday that the monitoring of cold chain, especially when it comes to medication, is considered one of the biggest challenges international health organisations face as it directly affects the quality, safety and effectiveness of the medication.
“After conducting a series of studies on international practices in the field of smart medication management systems, the pharmaceutical services department adopted an international-standard smart system that monitors and tracks the temperatures of medication through the installation of smart devices and tablets that can be controlled and tracked electronically. These systems aim to guarantee a continuous cold chain, which will maintain the quality and safety of pharmaceutical medication. We have adopted the system with the support and guidance of Humaid Al Qutami, chairman of the Board and director-general of DHA,” Dr Al Syed said.
Dr Al Syed revealed that the smart system adopted by the DHA includes computer tablets linked to medical refrigerators and refrigerator rooms.
These tablets will register and document the temperature automatically and display the data in a graph format.
“The tablets will also send alerts through text messages and emails in case the temperature exceeded the required limit. It will provide electronic reports regarding the medical storage and safety of the medication. These systems can also be controlled electronically through their own website,” he said.
Dr Al Syed added that small smart technology will document the temperature while transporting medication from the storage to the pharmacies. These small smart devices are connected to the computer and display in graph format the temperatures the medication was subjected to through the transportation process.
“The system was implemented by the authority to maintain patient’s safety and achieve customer satisfaction as these systems preserve the safety of the medication by tracking and controlling the temperature the medication is subjected to throughout the transportation process until the medication reaches the patient.”
