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Mpumelelo Nyoni Business Reporter
HEALTH and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa says the government is working on scrapping taxes on raw materials used by the pharmaceutical industry to make it viable and promote the manufacturing of drugs locally. He said there was a need to have a relook at the current situation that has seen 92 percent of the drugs at Zimbabwe Pharmaceuticals (ZimPharm) being donor funded.
ZimPharm manufactures and distributes a wide range of pharmaceutical products to the Zimbabwean market.
“The country needs to invest more from the fiscus into purchasing drugs that are needed for the country. Having said that, the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in the country has been hamstrung partly because of the whole economic situation, but mostly because of the impunity of taxations that the industry has to endure,” said Dr Parirenyatwa during a tour of the company in Bulawayo last week.
“Secondly, we have to look at what we import, the drugs that we are importing, can we not manufacture them? Are there outfits that can do so? That is why ZimPharm is particularly relevant.
“So the pharmaceutical industry is compromised but we have to prop it up and we can only do that ourselves.”
The minister said a number of countries had come forward with a view to assisting local companies.
He said ZimPharm and other such companies could opt for Public-Private-Partnerships as some of the strategies to make the companies in the industry viable.
“As ZimPharm grows, the quality of products must improve. Quality assurance is key. My ministry, with the Ministry of Industry, are working towards scrapping taxation on raw materials,” the Minister said.
“We will look at this immediately. We will be monitoring what you are doing positively.”
He said the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Commission had lobbied for a review of taxes and was waiting for approval.
Early this year, media reports indicated that Strategis Africa intended to takeover ZimPharm.
According to a World Health Organisation report, the country’s pharmaceutical market is a relatively modest one with a balanced set of supply and demand fundamentals.
It said on the supply side, local generic manufacturing companies have relatively balanced product portfolios and are able to supply some 47 percent of medicines by item on the Essential Drug List for Zimbabwe (EDLIZ).
derick.khumalo