State Trading Organization (STO) has revealed that the company will be establishing a medical warehouse this year to store imported medicines.
Speaking at a press conference held Wednesday, Managing Director of STO, Hussain Amru said 187 pharmacies are currently operated across Maldives by STO. While several challenges are faced in supplying medicine to the pharmacies, the goods have to be stored and packed at individual warehouses before being shipped off to its destinations. Therefore, the company is working to establish an automated warehouse where all medical goods can be stored and shipped when needed, said Amru.
"Currently, it takes a lot of time to send medicines to islands as they are stored at different warehouses. The process usually takes about 7- 10 days. What we want is to send the required medicines to the island pharmacies efficiently, and at the earliest," said Amru.
While STO has established pharmacies in all inhabited islands of Maldives, STO also supplies medicines to other pharmacies in the Maldives. Four warehouses are currently used by the company for storing medicines.
