Oman Airports has directed all airlines to ensure that travelers have prescriptions for different types of medicines that they carry with them.
"It has been observed that a number of passengers have been carrying different medical tablets without a prescription, which is leading to delays within the passenger's journey apart from instances of the Royal Oman Police seizing those medicines," Oman Airports said in a statement.
Speaking to the observer, an official at Oman Airports said, “One of the reasons people carry medicines is because they are expensive here, compared to countries like India and Thailand. Apart from personal use, many times travellers are requested by their friends and relatives to bring important medicines that are much more expensive here.”
He added, “As the verification process consumes time and stress, the simple solution is carrying the prescription with them.”
“The medicines are expensive and sometimes not available in Oman,” said a recent traveller responding to this directive.
According to the Ministry of Health guidelines in Oman, narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances that affect the central nervous system with a possibility of misuse are prohibited. “Usually, these drugs are governed by a strong regulatory system. Psychotropic substances are usually used for curing psychological disorders like anxiety and depression. Some countries may add other medicines to this group.”
Travellers are allowed to carry quantities of these drugs, for personal use, and usually use them for one month only and they should have a medical report regarding their medical condition or medical prescriptions prescribed by their doctor, MoH said.
MoH added that travellers must check the country of destination rules regarding the travellers’ medications.
Many countries permit to carry an only one-month quantity of medications to meet the patient’s demand, requiring the possession of either a medical report or a prescription or both.”
Other guidelines include to carry documents of the medication usage and the prescribing physician's information if your medication was in the form of a syringe (insulin), carry the doctor and pharmacist information in case the medication has expired or lost and you need another quantity of it.
Discuss with your doctor or pharmacist the possibility of fixing new times of taking the medication according to the time of the destination country.
Purchasing a non-prescription drug while you are in a foreign country since some of the medications are different from the one in your country either inequality or in their components.
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