According to Pombal Mayembe, a member of the Medicines Regulatory Agency (Armed) in Angola, the 200 requests, which did not go through, have appeared since 2016, when the technical group for the evaluation and licensing of pharmaceutical product factories was created.
"Water, electricity, these are difficulties that we can mention here in our country, because the supply of electricity is not, let's say, continuous and it is necessary to have an alternative source in case of a breakdown in the supply of electricity", he said.
Water quality "is another problem, for example, for the manufacture of serums, it is a big problem, our water needs to be treated and a lot of money is spent to be able to find quality water for pharmaceutical preparations", he acknowledged.
Speaking at the end of the presentation ceremony of the governing bodies of the National Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry of Angola (ANIFA), established this Thursday, Pombal Mayembe also admitted that the financing problem is conditioning the start-up of the sector.
The official gave examples of potential investors who have wrong information and even request funding from the Ministry of Health, something that "is not possible" because "the Ministry of Health is not a banking institution".
Pombal Mayembe, head of the department supporting the office of the director general of Armed, was one of the speakers at the debate on "The role of the pharmaceutical industry in the development of the health sector in Angola", which followed the presentation of the governing bodies of ANIFA.
All participants in the debate converged on the need for the country to have its own pharmaceutical industry in order to respond to the shortage of drugs and reduce prices internally.
