President Bidya Devi Bhandari has issued an ordinance to amend the Drugs Act (1978) for the third time.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Health and Population had proposed a draft of the ordinance to the Cabinet to cover legal issues related to a potential vaccine roll-out.

A ministry official had told the Post earlier that the proposal was sent to the Cabinet in advance to avoid legal complications (such as the ones faced during the roll-out of antiviral medicine remdesivir).

The Department of Drug Administration in September authorised the import and usage of remdesivir for treatment of Covid-19 patients as a study drug after doctors treating infected patients pressed the government to do so. As the department issued permission to use the drug, even before importing the drug was made legal, kin of the seriously-infected patients were forced to pay exorbitant prices for the drug.

The ministry hasn’t yet decided about the company that will supply the vaccines, some of which are in their third phase trial.