The Pharmaceutical Industry of Mozambique (INFARMA) announced on Wednesday (12) that the country will begin producing vaccines and large-volume injectables later this year, a measure that will guarantee the timely availability of these drugs in the National Health Service (SNS) and reduce dependence on imports. The project includes the manufacture of vaccines for the prevention of diseases such as tuberculosis and polio, as well as the resumption of national production of serums, according to the newspaper Noticias.
To realise this initiative, two new production lines are being installed at INFARMA, located in Matola, Maputo province. One of the lines will be used to produce vaccines, while the other will manufacture large-volume injectables, ensuring greater autonomy in the supply of essential medicines to the country’s health system.
The Minister of Health, Ussene Isse, visited the facilities of INFARMA and the National Medicines Factory (FNM) to assess progress in the production and distribution of medicines. On the occasion, he emphasised the importance of strengthening the national pharmaceutical industry in order to reduce dependence on imports and guarantee a continuous supply of drugs to the population.
‘Our policy as a government is to stimulate local industry in order to reduce foreign dependence, especially in the area of medicines. With this visit, I realised that we have the conditions to face the main public health challenges, as I found production lines in line with Mozambique’s epidemiological profile,’ he said.
Despite the advances in production capacity, Ussene Isse emphasised the need for strict control of warehouses and the distribution chain, in order to ensure that medicines reach all the country’s health units, including the most remote ones.
For his part, the chairman of INFARMA’s board of directors, Evaristo Madime, revealed that the country is in the final stages of setting up a serum production unit and that it will stop importing this product by the end of the year.
