adminProsper Ndlovu Senior Reporter
Drug manufacturers are facing a critical shortage of working capital resulting in them failing to meet demand thereby forcing pharmacies to rely on imports.Speaking ahead of a three-day pharmacists indaba to be attended by representatives from the country’s 10 provinces which starts in Bulawayo tomorrow, the Pharmaceutical Society of Zimbabwe (PSZ) spokesperson Mr Sikhumbuzo Mpofu said drug manufacturers were failing to secure adequate working capital to boost production.
He said as a result pharmacies were forced to rely on imports because of a shortage of locally manufactured medicines.
“There are a number of challenges facing pharmacists in discharging their duties. Drug manufacturers are facing challenges in securing working capital to increase capacity utilisation,” said Mr Mpofu, a pharmacist based in Bulawayo.
Mr Mpofu said the shortage of locally produced medicines was making it difficult for pharmacists to discharge their duties effectively. “Hospital pharmacists have been having challenges mainly due to the shortage of medicines. Medicine should not only be available but also accessible and affordable,” said Mr Mpofu.
He said concerns over shortage of drugs such as vitamins and cotrimoxazole were a result of failure to meet local demand by local manufacturers, who he said were facing viability problems.
“We are inconvenienced by the supply gap and when our stocks are not adequate imports are the only option. This, however, creates problems because we end up having some traders selling drugs on the parallel market and clients do not understand when pharmacists fail to provide prescribed drugs,” he said.
Mr Mpofu said as part of efforts to improve efficiency the pharmaceutical industry was involved in simplifying medicines by coming up with fixed dose combinations (FDCs), which are more than one medicine in one tablet in an effort to reduce the pill burden, that is the number of tablets a patient takes at a time.
Online Reporter