Mozambican Health Minister Alexandre Manguele declared in Maputo on Tuesday that it is a matter of priority to guarantee the regular availability to the public of safe, effective and good quality essential medicines. Speaking at the opening of a seminar on strengthening the Mozambican pharmaceutical sector, Manguele said it was also urgent to ensure that medicines are prescribed and dispensed correctly. “Efforts to manage and use medicines rationally should not be wasted by acquiring false medicines or medicines of poor quality”, he stressedTo ensure access to safe and good quality medicines throughout the country, Manguele added, it was essential to strengthen management of the whole chain of supply, as well as the systems for registering medicines and for pharmaceutical inspection. The minister also called for greater coordination between the various health programmes, the central medical stores, and the Health Ministry’s pharmaceutical department.“We must have a well-equipped quality control laboratory, with qualified technical staff”, he stressed. “The pharmacy and its medicines are the most visible part of the health system, and all governments are exposed to social pressure because of the lack of medicine, or their high price, or because of the circulation of poor quality or counterfeit medicines”.Many Mozambicans have difficulties in obtaining medicines, due to the absence of pharmacies in rural areas. Many rural health posts and centres do not have sufficient stocks of drugs, which obliges patients to travel to district or provincial capitals to obtain the medicines they need.The health service has also suffered thefts of medicines which are then sold, in completely inappropriate conditions, in informal markets by people with no qualifications.The two day seminar will discuss a strategy for guaranteeing control of the quality of medicines used in Mozambique.
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