The Pharmaceutical Wholesalers Association (PWA) and the Zimbabwe government are on a collision path over the provisions of a draft statutory instrument (SI), which seeks to impose an import ban on 23 medicines.
PWA claims that the local industry does not have capacity to ensure a sustainable supply chain of medicines and that prices would go up.
Last year, the Industry and Commerce ministry with the support of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association pushed for the draft, saying there was need to promote local industry and this could only be done through effecting an import ban on certain medicines.
However, PWA has come out guns blazing saying the environment at the moment was not conducive for the local industry to meet the demand without pushing up prices.
The PWA said a similar ban in Nigeria had resulted in inflated domestic prices due to limited competition as
PWA maintained that they were not against the revival of local industry but were concerned about its capacity given the economic situation. Against this milieu stakeholders have called for a balance where local industry would also be given an opportunity to flourish.
- News Day
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