The order came after a senior official died after taking a medicine produced in China. The ban also covers Chinese vaccines against Covid-19. The health facilities of the capital do not have adequate facilities for the storage of medicines.
Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Kim Jong-un has banned the use of Chinese drugs in the main hospitals in Pyongyang. According to Daily NK, the North Korean leader ordered the ban after a senior regime official died earlier this month after taking a medicine produced in China.
The ban also covers the administration of Chinese vaccines against Covid-19. Chinese anti-coronavirus drugs cannot even be used in research for the development of a domestic vaccine. North Korean authorities claim that there are no cases of Covid contagion in the country, a statement that the international scientific community believes to be false.
The news of the ban on Chinese medicines contrasts with the revelations of 19FortyFive. In December, the US website said that Kim had been vaccinated against the coronavirus with a Chinese experimental drug.
North Korean sources cited by Daily NK, however, question the version according to which the senior Pyongyang official died from taking the Chinese drug. An internal investigation showed that hospitals in the capital do not have adequate refrigeration facilities to store medicines, especially Covid vaccines.