Importing medicines into Kuwait

The regulator

The Ministry of Health regulates medicines in Kuwait through its drug and food control administration, often called the Kuwait Drug and Food Control Administration (KDFC). The US Trade Administration's Kuwait market note lists the administration's contact as kdfc@moh.gov.kw and refers to Decree 14 of 2022 on the registration of health products, including pharmaceuticals. Less procedural guidance from the Ministry could be found online than for its Gulf neighbours, so a local agent or a direct written query to the administration is usually the only reliable way to confirm a route.

In December 2025 the Health Minister issued four ministerial decisions that reorganise control of medicines. They give the Drug and Medical Products Registration and Control Administration sole authority to approve the release and sale of imported medicines and medical products, require all human medicines to be registered before sale, add electronic verification of certificates and set eight registration pathways.

Legal routes for unregistered medicines

The starting rule is that a medicine must be registered with the Ministry before it circulates. Decisions issued in October 2025 also require medicines sold through e-commerce platforms, cooperatives and supermarkets to be registered and imported through approved local agents.

Registration at the Ministry's request

In April 2023 the Ministry issued Resolution 100 of 2023. It repealed a 2022 resolution that had set a mechanism for importing non-registered medicines and pharmaceutical products, and it added an article to Resolution 361 of 2019. That article lets a medicine that is registered with international regulators, and that has no alternative available in Kuwait, be registered at the request of Ministry authorities, following the requirements of the Ministry's registration department. This suggests that access to an unregistered product is driven by the Ministry itself rather than by an outside importer, but confirm how it works in practice.

Single-patient requests

No current published procedure was found for a hospital to import a non-registered medicine for one named patient after the 2022 mechanism was repealed. Some secondary guides describe case-by-case Ministry approval, but this could not be confirmed from an official source. A hospital that needs such a product should ask the administration in writing which route and documents it accepts, and the exporter should not ship until a written approval names the consignee.

Travellers and controlled medicines

Narcotic and psychotropic substances are now scheduled under Decree-Law No. 159 of 2025. Ministerial Resolution 302 of 2025, in force from 15 December 2025, lets travellers bring narcotic medicines for up to 15 days of treatment and psychotropic medicines for up to one month, with a medical report certified by a Kuwaiti health office or embassy abroad. Without certification, customs holds the medicines until a doctor at the airport clinic reviews the report within 24 hours. No published rule allows a supplier to post prescription medicines to a patient.

Documents a buyer usually needs

• Written Ministry of Health approval or registration for the product, naming the Kuwaiti consignee
• Hospital or physician request explaining the clinical need and the lack of a registered alternative
• Proof of registration with a recognised international regulator
• Proforma invoice, commercial invoice and packing list with matching details
• Certificate of analysis for each batch, a GMP certificate and a certificate of pharmaceutical product
• Ministry price approval where required
• Air waybill and, for controlled drugs, the import authorisation

Timeline: a worked example

A hospital in Kuwait City needs a rare-disease medicine approved in Europe but not registered in Kuwait.

Total: roughly 5 to 10 weeks from request to delivery, most of it waiting for the Ministry. These are planning estimates, not published service times.

Shipping lanes from India

Kuwait International Airport (KWI) has direct flights from Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and several Kerala airports. Express courier service is usually 2 to 5 days door to door for small, non-controlled parcels addressed to a licensed consignee. Air cargo is usually 3 to 8 days including Ministry release and customs.

CIP and DAP are the usual terms, and FCA suits agents with their own forwarder. DDP is rarely practical because the Kuwaiti agent or hospital holds the approval and clears the goods.

Practical tips for buyers

• Ask for the Ministry approval in writing before the exporter books freight. Goods that arrive without an approval naming the consignee risk being held.
• Expect the licensed local agent to be part of the process, since Kuwaiti rules route imports and registration through approved agents.
• Duty on HS 3004 medicines is 0 percent according to World Bank WITS data for the GCC common tariff.
• Kuwait has not introduced VAT, and the draft law is still under discussion.
• Allow extra time in summer for cool-room handling at the airport, since the goods wait there until the Ministry release is issued.