The ManicaPost
The local pharmaceutical manufacturing industry is operating in a difficult environment characterized by low capacity utilization, liquidity crunch, stiff competition from established foreign manufacturers and attrition in qualified and experienced staff, a cabinet Minister has said.
In a speech read on his behalf by Pharmacy Services director Ropafadzai Hove at the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) stakeholder’s forum, Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa said his Ministry, in collaboration with those of Industry and Commerce and of Finance and Economic Development, with technical assistance from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), had put in place a package of measures to ensure a quick turnaround of the local pharmaceutical industry.
“I urge the local industry to exploit the opportunity while it exists, to embrace the ever evolving tenets of modern manufacturing standards such as the current Good Manufacturing Standards and Good Laboratory Practices,” he said.
“I exhort you to invest in qualified and experienced human capital as your industry is underpinned by intellectual equity. I trust partnerships between industry and academia will be established for human capital development and research and development into new product portfolios that reflect diseases of public health and economic importance. You should acquire state of the art manufacturing and testing equipment and you should develop efficient lean manufacturing processes,” he said.
Dr Parirenyatwa said as a member of the African Union and Southern Africa Development Committee, Zimbabwe had embraced promotion of local manufacturing through ‘The Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan for Africa’.
“It will be a pity if players in Zimbabwe, who have fought for their space and relevance in supplying quality assured medicines, from the days of our independence in 1980 to date, fail to consolidate their position in the unified sub-Saharan market,” he said.
“While emphasizing with your predicament as well as fostering access, the regulator MCAZ will of necessity prioritize compliance with standards which guarantee safety, quality and efficacy of the medicines you produce for local consumption and for export,” he added. – New Ziana
