By KETRA KALUNGA
IT is shameful and a serious omission that Zambia has been importing essential medicines and other medical supplies for the last 57 years and it is time we promoted local pharmaceutical companies to start making drugs, President Hakainde Hichilema has said.
President Hichilema said importing drugs for such a long period was shameful because hospitals were having challenges in terms of the flow of first line medicines and the government intends to change the status quo.
Speaking yesterday at the China-Zambia Trade and Investment Forum, Mr. Hichilema said there was need for the country to begin looking at transactions that would lead to domestic production of medicines.
“For almost 50 years just trading in panado, trading in cough mixtures. We acknowledge on our Zambian part that this is a shameful situation and we would like to change it,” the President said.
President Hichilema said it was unacceptable for the country to wait for six months for the purchase and delivery of the drugs and then distribute them to the health facilities across the country.
Mr. Hichilema said the government would built the capacity of the pharmaceutical sector so that they could begin to make drugs in the country and distribute around the region and the continent.
And President Hichilema has said that based on Zambia-China shared commitment with President Xi Jinping, the Zambia-China trade forum was envisaged to facilitate investments in mining, manufacturing, construction, agriculture, ICT and digital development.
He said it was Zambia’s desire to develop high quality industrial development in energy, green economy and pharmaceutical production.
“China remains a key and major trade partner, with Zambia’s exports to china estimated at 1.2 billion united states dollars in 2021, while imports over the same period, were estimated at US$896 million – culminating in a positive trade balance of approximately US$847 million, in favour of Zambia.
“As such, Zambia shall continue to deepen her trade and investment cooperation with China by enhancing exports of agricultural products, food and other non-resource products to China, while looking forward to china opening the “green lanes” for African production,” President Hichilema said.
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