PSMAS mulls venturing into pharmaceuticals

Source: PSMAS mulls venturing into pharmaceuticals – DailyNews Live

John Kachembere      12 March 2018

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s largest healthcare funder, Premier Service Medical Aid
Society, is considering venturing into the pharmaceuticals industry, to
help plug an acute drug shortage currently being experienced in the
country.

The group’s managing director Tendai Kapumha told The Financial Gazette
yesterday that the plan was still at its infancy.

“The increase in drug prices by over 40 percent in the last few months has
put us in a quandary as subscriptions have remained stagnant in the last
four years,” he said on the sidelines of a tour of the company’s Client
Services Centre in Harare.

“This is why as a group we are now interested in the manufacturing of
drugs locally,” he said, adding that PSMAS is still weighing its options
either to recapitalise existing pharmaceutical companies or establish its
own drug manufacturing plant.

The southern African country is experiencing a serious shortage of
life-saving clinical drugs, which is having an adverse effect on the
health sector and put the country’s disaster preparedness in limbo.

Information gathered by this paper shows that funding for essential
medicines and medical supplies is falling short of requirements as the
National Pharmaceutical Company of Zimbabwe (NatPharm) is unable to meet
demand.

NatPharm was set up to store and distribute drugs, but cannot carry out
the procurement function because of lack of funding.

Government owes NatPharm $11 million and the debt has reportedly crippled
most of its operations.

Zimbabwe requires $65 million for its weekly drug supply, but
pharmaceutical companies are only accessing $3 million from government.

Kapumha said it was critical for government to prioritise the
manufacturing of drugs such as anti-retroviral, diabetic tablets and
insulin, and asthma drugs.

The country’s drug shortages started around 2007 when Caps Pharmaceuticals
was experiencing financial constraints. Efforts to revive the company,
which at its peak manufactured 75 percent of drugs in the country, are yet
to yield any meaningful results.

The pharmaceutical manufacturer – at one time one of the largest in Sub
Sahara Africa before plunging into a financial crisis – shut down
operations five years ago due to problems related to undercapitalisation,
massive debts and alleged management malfeasance.

Units under the group include QV Pharmacies, Geddes Limited and St Annes
Hospital.

The latest development comes after PSMAS, which boasts of over 1 million
members – has launched a lifestyle programme which it says will save the
country up to $2 billion in health costs in the next five years.

The “Premier Lifestyle” is a response to the effects of non-communicable
diseases which have been identified as a major consumer of productive time
and cause of death due to modifiable lifestyle risk factors such as lack
of physical activity, poor diet, risky behaviours such as smoking and high
alcohol intake as well as stress.

With a local market share of over 70 percent by membership, PSMAS say the
programme which teaches their membership on good living practices will
most importantly, cause no side effects to patients as opposed to other
medical remedies.

This, the group said, is a response to an increase in the burden from
these conditions on its membership, which has also affected members’
employers and consequently resulted in increased healthcare costs.
– The Financial Gazette