The Central Medical Stores Trust (CMST) says it is considering venturing into local production of medical drugs and supplies to ease shortages in the country while diversifying its revenue sources.
Speaking on Friday at a day-long stakeholder review meeting in Mponela, Dowa, CMST board chairperson Josiah Mayani emphasised the need for strategic recapitalisation and asked the Parliamentary Committee on Health to help them expand their mandate to include drug manufacturing.
He said CMST’s current focus is limited to procuring, warehousing and distributing medicines and medical supplies.
“Now we want to extend into production because there is room for us to improve,” said Mayani.
He said CMST has a sufficient number of skilled chemists and pharmacists capable of producing some medicines locally.
The CMST had received K30 billion from government and the World Bank to support its operations, but Mayani said that currency devaluation has negatively impacted on the trust’s purchasing power.
Said Mayani: “Producing drugs locally would mitigate these challenges by reducing import expenses and creating budget flexibility.
“The money we spend on importing some of these drugs could be used instead to procure raw materials for production right here in Malawi.”
Parliamentary Committee on Hea l th ch a i r p e r son Matthews Ngwale, speaking in an interview, acknowledged that CMST is facing financial struggles, despite government funding.
He commended the trust for exploring innovative revenue-generation ideas to reduce its dependence on government support.
“As Parliament , we are ready to support any initiatives that will enable CMST to generate its own revenue. If they find production effective, we will support the mandate as long as they can prove they are capable,” said Ngwale.
In his remarks, health rights activist Maziko Matemba, representing health sector civil society organisations, commended CMST’s interest in local production, but recommended that Malawi should sign the African Medicines Agency Treaty under the African Union which promotes collaboration in drug manufacturing and procurement across Africa.
The meeting was a joint Annual Stakeholders Review Meeting for CMST’s 2022- 23 and 2023-24 operational year.
