Your Excellency Lyonpo Tandin Wangchuk, Health Minister, Bhutan
Chair of the SEARN Steering group, Mr Narayan Prasad Dhakal
Representatives of medical products Procurement agencies and National Regulatory Authorities
WHO Colleagues
Good afternoon, and welcome to this first session of a series of virtual meetings to structure a regional dialogue between medical products Procurement Agencies and SEARN National Regulatory Authorities across WHO South-East Asia Region.
‘Healthy competition helps to make medicines more affordable, but affordability cannot be at the expense of quality and safety’. These were the opening words of the DG of WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, at the WHO Global Forum for Public Procurement of Health Products on 4 November 2025.
Aligned with these thoughts, I applaud Bhutan for having placed the Assembly of the South-East Asia Regulatory Network (SEARN) organized in July 2025 under the sign of achieving balance of quality and accessibility to medical products for all and invited public procurement agencies for two sessions with regulators.
Recalling the vision of SDG, particularly SDG 3.8 which inspires out work: the achievement of UHC including access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all. This vision serves not only as a global mandate but a reminder of our responsibilities as guardians of public health.
This journey is further shaped by the 2018 Delhi Declaration on improving access to essential medical products in the South-East Asia Region and beyond and the World Health Assembly resolution WHA69.25 (2016).
NRAs hold the critical responsibility of ensuring that every medical product reaching patients meets the highest standards of safety, efficacy and quality. Procurement Agencies translate regulatory decisions into tangible access ensuring affordable and quality medical products flow from production to healthcare facilities.
However, there are challenges to effective coordination between regulatory authorities and procurement agencies, often resulting in repetitive quality assurance checks, delays in tendering, inconsistent product availability – risks that particularly burden small and vulnerable countries. These preventable delays and supply fragmentation are missed opportunities for stronger public health outcomes.
It is the intersection of these two mandates and their partnership where potential change lies. This joint meeting series is a response to that call where participants of the SEARN Assembly requested WHO to continue and structure the discussion between National Regulatory Authorities and Procurement Agencies.
As we proceed, let us also acknowledge the role of pharmaceutical industry, our partner in innovation, manufacturing, and distribution. Without them, supply chains will falter. Let us engage with industry constructively based on the principles of transparency, competition, and quality, while welcoming their insights.
Today, the first session, under the patronage of Bhutan, will provide an overview of the issues and will be focused on discussing the workplan for the rest of the sessions towards adopting a joint declaration between procurement agencies and SEARN members.
This is a safe space for honest dialogue, mutual learning and planning. Let us seize the opportunity to listen and co-create solutions that work in our unique regional context.
I wish you all success, and look forward to being appraised of the outcomes.
Thank you.