Aceng noted that GAVI, the Vaccines Alliance has put aside funding to support local manufacture of vaccines in Africa but so far, no Ugandan company has picked interest and yet countries like South Africa, Senegal and Rwanda are already benefitting.
Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng has urged
pharmaceutical companies participating in the Uganda Health Pharma Healthcare
Exhibition to consider setting up test kit manufacturing plants in
the country.
Aceng told manufacturers that Uganda is recording
frequent outbreaks but all the time they have had to rely on the importation of
test kits, something that is risky if they are to go by the experience from the
COVID-19 era where pharmaceutical companies elsewhere hoarded vaccines whose demand
was high all over the world.
The Minister who was speaking on Thursday as Uganda is battling
double outbreaks of Mpox and Ebola said, for instance, manufacturers can take
interest in producing Ebola test kits, monoclonal antibodies and infection
prevention and control materials such that whenever an outbreak happens, there
is swift intervention.
Aceng further noted that GAVI, the Vaccines Alliance
has put aside funding to support local manufacture of vaccines in Africa but so
far, no Ugandan company has picked interest and yet countries like South Africa,
Senegal and Rwanda are already
benefitting.
//Cue in:” You need to …
Cue out: … miss the opportunity”. //
She revealed manufacturers of pharmaceutical
products do not have to pay taxes and the government offers them free premises
to set up.
//Cue in:” Government offers very …
Cue out: …. No tax completely”. //
Grace Kiwanuka, the
Executive Director of the Uganda HealthCare Federation, the umbrella body for
private healthcare said while these opportunities may be available, they are not
well understood as there is a lack of coordination between government and
manufacturers regarding what the country’s greatest needs are and what will be
a game changer for the pharmaceutical sector.
//Cue in:” When we study...
Cue out: … be more coordinated”. //
Kiwanuka says the scare for pharmaceutical companies
is that Uganda has been heavily relying on donors to fund healthcare but if this
is twisted a little for more government involvement more investors would get
interested in meeting the demand of the local community.
She however noted that they currently face a hurdle
and would need a candid conversation with the government to harmonize what is on
paper with what happens when it comes to the implementation of
opportunities put forward by the government.
The expo attracted manufacturers of medicine and
medical equipment from both Uganda and abroad in addition to sector regulators.
