Walk down any street in Phnom Penh, and you will see pharmacies and skincare shops lined up one after another. Prime Minister Hun Manet has recently made it clear to the relevant ministries that they need to tighten quality control on medicines and cosmetics, especially products that people apply directly to their faces and skin.
Talk to folks in the neighborhoods, and you will find that everyone buying medicine or bottled skincare products cares most about authenticity and safety. If the quality is substandard, swallowing pills or putting creams on your skin is nothing to mess with. Now that the leadership has told the authorities to keep a close eye on this sector, ordinary people can feel a bit more at ease buying medicine and cosmetics.
Local media report that the crackdown focuses heavily on controlling the quality of pills and cosmetics. Making a living on the streets is hard enough; if people have to worry about whether their medicine or daily skincare is safe, life becomes even more stressful. Hopefully, this stricter enforcement will keep substandard products off the market for good.
