The newly appointed director of the Pharmaceutical Supervision and Administration Bureau (ISAF), a newly established public entity which started operating on New Year’s Day, pledged yesterday that the bureau will promote the “healthy and orderly” development of Macau’s “big health” industry, which will also include research studies and production of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) products.
“Big health” (大健康) has been defined by mainland planners as a full suite of health services that cover the entire care continuum.
Choi Peng Cheong, who has been appointed as the director of the new bureau, made the remarks during his swearing-in ceremony at Government Headquarters yesterday.
According to an executive order published in the Official Gazette (BO) last week, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U, who oversees the new bureau, appointed Choi for a one-year term effective from January 1. Ao Ieong signed the executive order on December 16.
Choi was sworn in by Ao Ieong during yesterday’s ceremony.
The government announced in October last year that it had decided to set up a new bureau-level entity tasked with the supervision of pharmaceutical products, including traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) products.
Previously, it was the Pharmaceutical Department of the Health Bureau (SSM) which was tasked with the registration of medicines and the supervision of pharmaceutical activities, including traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The SSM Pharmaceutical Department was abolished on January 1 when the new bureau started operating.
October’s announcement said that the government had decided to establish a new bureau specifically tasked with medicinal matters after considering the vast scope of supervision of pharmaceutical activities in Macau. October’s announcement said that a new medicinal bureau is needed for the full implementation of a new law regulating the pharmaceutical activities of traditional Chinese medicines and the registration of TCM products, which came into force on New Year’s Day. The TCM bill was passed by the Legislative Assembly (AL) in July last year.
According to the government’s announcement in October, the new medicinal bureau is tasked with implementing the central government’s preferential measures for Macau’s participation in the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) concerning pharmaceutical supervision and administration.
According to October’s announcement, the new medicinal bureau is also tasked with studying the drafting of a new legal system regulating pharmaceutical activities involving Western medicines and the drafting of a registration system for small medical devices.
‘New era’
Delivering a speech during yesterday’s ceremony, Choi said that the establishment of the Pharmaceutical Supervision and Administration Bureau marks a new era in the development of medicinal matters in Macau. The new bureau will advance the government’s work on the supervision of pharmaceutical activities in a more professional way, Choi said.
Choi, who headed the now-defunct Pharmaceutical Department of the Health Bureau before taking up his new post, said that the bureau will ensure the full implementation of the new TCM law, study the drafting of a registration system on small medical devices, and carry out the central government’s preferential measures for Macau’s GBA participation concerning pharmaceutical supervision.
Choi said that his bureau will ensure the safety, efficacy and quality control of medicines and pharmaceutical products, fully implement the product lifecycle management in pharmaceuticals, and promote the “healthy and orderly” development of the local big health industry.
The Pharmaceutical Supervision and Administration Bureau is headed by a director with the assistance of two deputy directors. The bureau has five departments and six divisions.
According to the government’s announcement in October, the new bureau will be run by up to 105 staff. All 62 staff members of the now-defunct Pharmaceutical Department of the Health Bureau have been transferred to the new Pharmaceutical Supervision and Administration Bureau. The remaining positions have been filled with staff members transferred from other units under the Health Bureau and will be filled by recruiting new staff.
According to the executive order about his appointment, Choi holds a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from National Taiwan University (NTU) and a doctoral degree in Medicine (Pharmacology) from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.
Choi joined the Health Bureau (SSM) in 1995 when he worked as a pharmacist. Choi had headed the SSM Pharmaceutical Department since December 2005. He also became a consultant pharmacist of the Health Bureau in 2013, according to last week’s executive order.
Speaking to reporters after having been sworn in, Choi said that a number of new TCM products manufactured in Macau have successfully entered the markets of the GBA’s Guangdong cities last year, adding that several additional new TCM products made in Macau are expected to be permitted for sale in the GBA Guangdong cities in the near future.
2 deputy directors sworn in
Meanwhile, the two newly appointed deputy directors of the Pharmaceutical Supervision and Administration Bureau, Ng Kuok Leong and Lei Sai Ian, were sworn in by Choi at the bureau, which is located on the 19th floor of the Macau-side checkpoint building of the Qingmao border checkpoint in Ilha Verde, yesterday afternoon, the bureau said in a statement.
The Macau-side building of the Qingmao checkpoint, which came into use in September last year, is a 20-storey multipurpose high-rise. While the first five floors are used for checkpoint and immigration purposes, the sixth, seventh and eighth floors will be earmarked for an exhibition centre for Guangdong and Macau branded products. The other floors of the building have been or will be earmarked for office spaces of various public entities.
Ao Ieong appointed Ng and Lei as the new bureau’s deputy directors for a one-year term effective from January 1 respectively.
According to the Official Gazette, both Ng and Lei also hold bachelor’s degrees in Pharmacy from National Taiwan University.
Newly-appointed Pharmaceutical Supervision and Administration Bureau (ISAF) Director Choi Peng Cheong (right) is sworn in by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U (centre) at Government Headquarters yesterday, witnessed by Ao Ieong’s chief-of-cabinet, Ho Ioc San. Photo: GCS
The two newly-appointed directors of the Pharmaceutical Supervision and Administration Bureau (ISAF), Ng Kuok Leong (second from left) and Lei Sai Ian (first from left), are sworn in by ISAF Director Choi Peng Cheong (first from right) yesterday afternoon, witnessed by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U, at the bureau’s office in the Macau-side checkpoint building of the Qingmao border checkpoint in Ilha Verde.
