adminErrant pharmacies involved in the illegal trading of the latest generation of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs smuggled into the country, risk losing their trading licences if they are caught, the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) has warned. The authority also warned the pharmacies against selling ARVs to people who do not have prescriptions as doing so would also leave them liable to prosecution.
Reacting to reports that a thriving black market of the latest generation of ARVs was emerging in the country, MCAZ spokesperson Mr Richard Rukwata said his organisation would investigate the matter and descend heavily on the culprits.
Sunday News recently reported that illegal imports of the latest generation of anti-retroviral (ARVs) drugs, from neighbouring South Africa and Zambia, were flooding the local black market.
The latest drug, which allows a patient to take just one tablet a day, is not yet readily available locally as Government is yet to roll out the treatment on a large scale, prompting a number of people living with HIV to buy the drug from pharmacies or the black market where it is ridiculously cheap.
However, further investigations have revealed that some errant local pharmacies, in Bulawayo and Harare, were flouting the country’s drug procurement regulations, by buying the smuggled drugs from the black market where they are ridiculously cheaper than in registered outlets.
The investigations also showed that Zidolam N, a combination of Zidovudine, Lamivudine and Nevirapine, which costs $40 at registered suppliers for a bottle with a month’s supply of the medicine costs $20 on the black market if bought in bulk.
Pharmacies would then put huge mark-ups and sell the same drug for between $45 and $50, making huge profits.
Mr Rukwata said the country’s medicines regulatory authority would, in the next weeks, send out inspectors to establish if there were any pharmacies selling the smuggled drugs, adding that any pharmacy caught stocking smuggled drugs would be deregistered immediately.
He said procurement of drugs from the black market put people’s lives at risk as it permitted for counterfeit drugs to be introduced into the formal system.
“Obviously it is a serious offence for any pharmacy to procure drugs from unregistered sources and as an authority, a statutory board, if we come across such cases we will not hesitate to cancel licences of such errant elements.
“If we get a tip-off from members of the public that such and such a pharmacy is selling smuggled ARVs we will definitely take action. The only challenge that we are facing in containing such illegal activities is that members of the public are not forthcoming with information on which pharmacies are doing this.
“In the coming weeks our inspectors are going to move around, inspecting drug stocks in pharmacies and if there is any one caught with drugs whose origin we don’t recognise at law, they will face the music,” he said.
“It is also illegal for pharmacies to sell drugs to people who do not have the requisite prescription from the doctor. That is blatantly unethical and excessively illegal. If we get information of such pharmacies and have evidence we will definitely take action.”
He also warned members of the public against buying drugs from the black market saying doing so exposed them to health complications as some of the drugs may be counterfeit or might have expired.
The Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe spokesperson said his organisation would also engage authorities at the country’s ports of entry to increase security and inspection of goods that come into the country, as a measure to reduce smuggling of illegal drugs.
“It’s always difficult to catch people who smuggle drugs because usually they come in small packages. Nonetheless we will make efforts to talk to our counterparts at the country’s borders to intensify inspection of imported goods. Maybe that way we can be able to reduce the amount of smuggled medicines.
“Members of the public should be aware that self-medicating is very dangerous. Buying drugs from the black market is tantamount to self-destruction. It complicates one’s health condition because you might take the wrong drug or might take an expired drug whose side effects may later prove fatal,” he said.
Mr Rukwata’s sentiments were echoed by the Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Paul Chimedza who warned that Government would not hesitate to prosecute and close pharmacies that are found on the wrong side of the law.
“That is criminal and anyone caught selling such drugs will be prosecuted and immediately lose their licences. We will work with police and see how best such practice can be contained.
“Zimbabweans should also not be gullible to buy anything that is sold on the black market. HIV treatment is complicated and needs doctors’ assistance. One cannot afford to take their own medicine without prescription, worse still after having bought it from the black market,” he said.
Reverend Maxwell Kapachawo of the Reverend Max and Friends Foundation, an organisation that works with people living with HIV blamed stigma and discrimination of people living with the virus for the proliferation of the black market.
“Quite a number of people living with HIV are not comfortable buying their drugs from the pharmacies or getting them for free from Government hospitals because of the existing stigma. As such the black market will continue to thrive.
“There is also a need for reduction of cost of procuring drugs from the formal market. That way we can also contain the black market where the drugs are generally cheaper,” he said.
Government is moving towards rolling out on a larger scale the latest generation of HIV treatment, the Fixed Dose Combination, which will allow people living with the virus to take one drug a day, as opposed to the four to six tablets.
Only pregnant mothers and people with co-infections of TB and HIV are accessing the drug, with the rest of the population of people living with the virus still receiving a combination of four tablets a day for free at public health institutions.
Zimbabwe has 1,4 million adults living with HIV and of that figure 955 000 are receiving ARVs, with the remainder still on the waiting list.
At least 156 718 children between 0-14 years are living with HIV, with 46 319 of them on treatment.
Online Reporter