Thursday, September 6, 2007

Rwanda: Ministry Okays Tianshi

James Buyinza
Kigali



Tianshi health operations have been re-opened after fulfilling the requirements of the ministry of Health.


Viatuer Mutanguha, the Coordinator of Pharmacy Taskforce in the Health ministry, said in an interview yesterday that the ministry has allowed Tianshi shops to re-open.


He however said that the drug company was asked not to put people's health at risk.


"We inspected all their shops in Kigali City and they did all we asked them to do; we do not have problems with them so long as they don't violate the agreed-upon conditions," Mutanguha explained.


He said the ministry gave Tianshi guidelines that should not be violated.

He said that Tianshi fulfilled the minimum requirements before reopening.


The conditions include separating cosmetic shops from herbal products and preparing monthly report sabout the distribution of their products; avoiding any form of advertising of Tianshi products and stopping all training programmes till the ministry approves the contents of their messages.


Asked about the fate of Forever Living Products, another drug company, Mutanguha said that they (Forever) have failed to meet the requirements and for that matter, they are not allowed to carry out their activities.


"We stopped them but they never complied with our directives; we have informed the security organs to assist because we can't sit back when the health of the public is put at stake," Mutanguha explained.