Tanzania: Govt scraps 16 charges to spur pharma investment

Dodoma. The government has abolished 16 charges and cut 23 fees payable to the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) and Government Chief Chemist as it seeks to attract investments to the pharmaceutical industry.

The decision, announced in Parliament yesterday by the Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, the Elderly and Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu, also seeks to ensure reliable supply of essential drugs. The decision will take effect on July 1, 2019.

Among other things, it will remove retention fees for domestic products, duplicate certificates fees, local industries inspection fee, new food shops inspection fee, export permits fees and small-scale food industries inspection fee.

The list also includes food adverts assessment fees, medical representatives fee, veterinary medicine retail shops inspection fee, certificate of pharmaceutical product fee and disposal certificate fee.

Others are permit for psychotropic and narcotic drugs, drugs and cosmetics marketing fee, food health certificate fee, import charges on drugs and cosmetics raw materials and food label changes permit fee.

The government has reduced locally produced drugs registration fee from the current $500 (about Sh1.2 million) to Sh1 million, while that of processed cereal-based food for children has been slashed to Sh1 million from the current Sh1.5 million, Ms Mwalimu told the House yesterday.

“The initiatives are meant to attract more investors into the sector to ensure reliable drug supply in our health facilities,” she said, and requested Parliament to endorse a total of Sh990.7 billion for the 2019/20 financial year.

Out of the money, Sh546.9 billion is meant for development expenditure.

Data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed last year that Tanzania was spending over Sh800 billion on importing medicines and medical supplies annually.

Domestic factories are only capable of meeting only about six per cent of the demand for medicines and medical supplies.

Ms Mwalimu told Parliament yesterday that the ministry, working with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) and Medical Stores Department (MSD) has prepared Guidelines for Investment Opportunities in Pharmaceutical Industries 2018.

“This is meant to simplify accessibility of information related to investments in pharmaceutical industry,” she noted.

The aim, she added, was to encourage investors to set up pharmaceutical factories in line with the government’s industrialisation drives.

“Until March 2019, construction of eight drugs manufacturing industries was at various stages,” said Ms Mwalimu.

They are Kairuki Pharmaceuticals, Biotech Laboratories, Vista Pharma, Afravet/ Novel Vaccines and Biological, Hester Biosciences Africa, Afrikana Pharmaceuticals, Alfa Pharmaceuticals and Pharm Access.

Meanwhile, the government plans to procure essential medicines worth Sh200 billion in the next financial year.

It also plans to table the Universal Health Coverage Bill in Parliament in September to pave the way for every Tanzanian to be enrolled in a health insurance scheme.

Mr Peter Serukamba, chairman of Parliament’s Social Services and Community Development Committee, called on government to speed up preparation of the bill to increase the number of people covered by health insurance from the current 33 per cent. He also called for employment of more community health workers to improve health services.

“The committee is aware that the country has some 13,000 community health workers, who are jobless. Rwanda has managed to cut the deaths of children under the age of five due to availability of community health workers,” noted Mr Serukamba.

Speaking on behalf of the opposition, Tarime Urban lawmaker (Chadema), Ms Esther Matiko, urged the government to improve the business environment to attract investors in the health sector in through public-private partnerships (PPPs).

She also urged the government to issue work permits to employ experts help curb challenges emanated from, among others, communicable and non-communicable diseases outbreak.