The Medicines Authority was awarded the People Management Impact on Business Success Award and Employee Engagement Award during the Malta People Awards 2011, held at Intercontinental Hotel last Friday.

During the 2009 and 2010 editions of the awards, the Medicines Authority was already recognised through four awards related to equal opportunities and learning and development. “This year we wanted to take our organisation a step further by recognising that our people and the way we manage our human resources contributes to public health and the successful implementation of the pharmaceutical regulatory framework in Malta” said Dr. Patricia Vella Bonanno, CEO of the Medicines Authority.

During the first ten months of 2011, the Medicines Authority recommended over 400 medicinal products for authorisation, providing a better choice for treatment for the benefit of patients and consumers. Trained staff continued monitoring the products once these are authorised and 17 circulars related to safety of medicines were issued. The Medicines Authority launched a new service to send sms notifications to health care professionals on the latest safety information.

170 inspections were held in pharmacies, wholesale dealers, importers and manufacturers of medicinal products. One of the initiatives recommended by staff members resulted in the reduction of 200,000 euro in administrative burden to the industry.

The involvement of staff was instrumental in the launch of the Know Your Medicines initiatives which aim to provide objective and unbiased information on medicines to patients, consumers and health care professionals. ‘We are involved in the strategy and operations of the organisation through regular high quality staff meetings, committees and working groups, consultations on different topics, implementation of work and periodic staff satisfaction surveys’ said one of the employees of the Medicines Authority.

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