diff --git a/docs/requirements.txt b/docs/requirements.txt
index fe415a07b5..ff94f7b6de 100644
--- a/docs/requirements.txt
+++ b/docs/requirements.txt
@@ -41,3 +41,4 @@ onnxruntime; python_version <= '3.10'
 zarr
 huggingface_hub
 pyamg>=5.0.0
+packaging
diff --git a/monai/utils/module.py b/monai/utils/module.py
index f5ea57be24..747d3a17b9 100644
--- a/monai/utils/module.py
+++ b/monai/utils/module.py
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@
 import torch
 
 import importlib.metadata
-from packaging import version
 
 
 # bundle config system flags
@@ -567,10 +566,10 @@ def version_leq(lhs: str, rhs: str) -> bool:
     """
 
     lhs, rhs = str(lhs), str(rhs)
-    pkging, has_ver = optional_import("packaging", name="packaging")
+    pkging, has_ver = optional_import("packaging")
     if has_ver:
         try:
-            return cast(bool, version(lhs) <= version(rhs))
+            return cast(bool, pkging.version.Version(lhs) <= pkging.version.Version(rhs))
         except version.InvalidVersion:
             return True
 
@@ -594,10 +593,10 @@ def version_geq(lhs: str, rhs: str) -> bool:
 
     """
     lhs, rhs = str(lhs), str(rhs)
-    pkging, has_ver = optional_import("packaging", name="packaging")
+    pkging, has_ver = optional_import("packaging")
     if has_ver:
         try:
-            return cast(bool, version(lhs) >= version(rhs))
+            return cast(bool, pkging.version.Version(lhs) >= pkging.version.Version(rhs))
         except version.InvalidVersion:
             return True
 
diff --git a/requirements-dev.txt b/requirements-dev.txt
index ced783443e..1a687a6533 100644
--- a/requirements-dev.txt
+++ b/requirements-dev.txt
@@ -59,3 +59,4 @@ nvidia-ml-py
 huggingface_hub
 pyamg>=5.0.0
 git+https://github.com/Project-MONAI/GenerativeModels.git@7428fce193771e9564f29b91d29e523dd1b6b4cd
+packaging
diff --git a/requirements-min.txt b/requirements-min.txt
index a091ef0568..21cf9d5e5c 100644
--- a/requirements-min.txt
+++ b/requirements-min.txt
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ setuptools>=50.3.0,<66.0.0,!=60.6.0 ; python_version < "3.12"
 setuptools>=70.2.0; python_version >= "3.12"
 coverage>=5.5
 parameterized
+packaging
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 202e7b0e24..dfa94fcfa1 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -137,6 +137,8 @@ pyyaml =
     pyyaml
 fire =
     fire
+packaging =
+    packaging
 jsonschema =
     jsonschema
 pynrrd =