MSD cautions firms over quality of local medicines
What you need to know:
- The government agency also maintains the quality of the products have to meet international standards and that quantities manufactured locally would serve no purpose as they are far below the national demand.
Nairobi. The Medical Stores Department (MSD) has said it is not compelled to procure locally made or imported pharmaceuticals on the basis of price but on quality and not quantity.
The government agency also maintains the quality of the products have to meet international standards and that quantities manufactured locally would serve no purpose as they are far below the national demand.
“Cheap is not the preference of MSD as we are not a subsidising agency,” insisted the director general Laurean Rugambwa Bwanakunu in an interview with The Citizen on the sidelines of the regional high-level multi-stakeholder conference on pharmaceutical industries in East Africa.
He said although it was the government’s policy to procure locally manufactured drugs and medical equipment, MSD has had to grapple with limited supplies - far below demand - and long delays in delivery.
He added that at there was a time the agency gave price incentives of between 15 and 20 per cent for the local producers to enable them compete with the foreign companies in the tendering process for supplies of pharmaceutical products to MSD. “This has not helped as a result of the low quantities. Only two of six pharmaceutical plants in Dar es Salaam are reliable” he argued, saying that local drug manufacturers and suppliers should not expect MSD to cover rising production costs and taxes through the price incentives.
“Let’s be fair and honest, MSD will give priority to the local producers only if they are within the set quality, affordable and if they can supply us huge quantities,” he pointed out.
He said MSD has stopped the importation of of paracetamol, a pain relieving drug for fever and Mansoor Daya Chemicals, probably the oldest local drug manufacturer, has been given tender to make the pain killer for the local market.
According to him, the current annual budget of the autonomous agency under the ministry of Health, Social Welfare, Gender, Elderly and Children for drug procurement was about $600 million and that it imports at least 80 per cent of the drugs.
