TFDA happy with quality of medicines

Dar es Salaam. For the past ten years, quality and safety of medicines in the country has improved to more than 95 percent, says Director General of Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority, Mr Hiiti Sillo.

“Currently, market surveillance shows an improved quality and safety of medicines between 92.5 percent and 98 percent which is a very big achievement” revealed Mr Sillo.

Mr Sillo said recently that, TFDA was taking various measures including putting in place strong  post-marketing surveillance system to ensure that medicines  produced locally and those  imported from foreign countries meet all the required standards.

Apart from putting stringent system, Mr Sillo attributed TFDA’s achievements to the enhanced collaboration between his institution and stakeholders including the general public.

The Director General further explained that TFDA has been undertaking capacity building measures in areas of human resources and infrastructure to enable smooth operations of its obligations.

“We now have about 300 employees from just 53 who were there when we established our institution in 2003 and as a result we have now seven zonal offices and operating in all 32 official ports of entry” He said.

Besides, he added that TFDA has also built a state of art laboratory which is pre-qualified by World Health Organisation (WHO) and accredited by ISO/IEC 17025:2015 since 2011 and 2012 respectively

Expounding further, Mr. Sillo told this reporter that, in order to make TFDA’s services available countrywide, it has delegated some of its functions to Local Government Authorities  to ensure quality and safety of medicines by conducting  frequent inspections of products; medicines inclusive  in their respective areas under TFDA guidance.

Currently, TFDA has seven zonal offices, namely Lake zone, Northern zone, Southern highlands zone, Eastern zone, Central zone, Southern zone and Western zone.

The Director General lauded TFDA’s employees for their dedication to work and desire to achieve institution’s strategic objectives. He also thanked stakeholders for their continued collaboration and support.

“I sincerely thank the general public for their support and particularly for being in forefront in reporting those who breach law and regulations” He said. 

According to available statistics, between 2003 and June 2017, TFDA has registered 12,474 medicines and destroyed counterfeit and substandard medicines worth 11.59 TZs billion.