By Matṧeliso Phulane and Neo Kolane
The minister of health Semano Sekatle on Tuesday announced initiatives that will be taken to regulate the use of medicines in Lesotho.
This follows the Medicine and Medical Devices Control Authority Bill 2019 which was tabled for the second reading in the National Assembly parliament this week.
The main purpose of the Bill is to establish medicine regulatory authority which will be a statutory body responsible for regulating and controlling medicines and medical devices.
Unregulated medicines result in the use of ineffective, poor quality and harmful medicines which can lead to therapeutic failure, exacerbation of diseases, resistance to medicines and sometimes to deaths.
In addition, such medicines might also lead to trafficking of standard medical products, manufacturing of herbal medicines which have adverse effects on users, advertisements of medical products with falls claims attached on the effects of medicines, malpractices in medicines outlets and unauthorized clinical trials.
The Bill, therefore intends to address challenges by regulating and controlling the manufacture, sale, distribution and use of medical products to meet the required standard safety, efficacy as well as quality in order to protect public health.
Once the Bill becomes law, all medical products will be registered and premises will be used for manufacturing and selling of medical products as well as personnel handling of products will be licenced.
On the issue of financial implications, Sekatle briefed that the passing of the Bill into shall require some funds from the government for setting up the authority offices and its staff whilst the government stands a chance to collect revenue in the form of licences issuance as well as registration of medical products.
In an interview with theReporter this week, Tṧepo Tiela from Thaba-Tseka who sells traditional medicines around Maseru taxi rank said he welcomed the minister’s decision. But urged the law should not restrict them on how much amount they should use into their mixture, how to sell the medicine and not be forced to pay more tax than they are already doing.
“It will be unfair if the government could just implement a law which is going to restrict the way we process, advertise and sell our medicines. I therefore urge those in authority to confront us first, hear out our inputs before finalising the law,” Tiela said.
In his comment, a traditional doctor from Lerumo La Chaka, who asked to remain anonymous said he was uncomfortable with an introduction of the new law as “it will force Lerumo La Chaka to shut down its business.”
He argued: “It is the sale of the medicine that helps put bread on the able. Our government is discriminatory when it comes to us traditional healers, some of us have ventured into these kind of businesses because we want to provide for our families, pay bills as well as our children’s school fees. Therefore, we do not want the law because it is going to kill our small businesses,” he commented.
The founder of Tharollo ea Mathata Remedy, Tanki Arabang Radaemane said he is surprised that the minister of health did not approach and consult with them first, before making decisions. As a result he is not satisfied.
Radaemane said just like any other companies such as restaurants which have their own recipe’s secrets he also has his own when processing and manufacturing the medicine which he cannot disclose to anyone as the Bill plans to do when becoming the new law.
“We do not have problem if the Bill indicates that the medication should be tested, but what we cannot do is to reveal herbs used to mix the medicines,” Radaemane added.
He disclosed that he once encountered a problem when trying to test his medication at the Innovation Hub at the National University of Lesotho. But he declined to divulge the problem he encountered.
“The government is undermining our businesses and I do not understand why. Becoming a traditional healer, we paid a lot of money while others had to part ways with their cattle in order to learn traditional skills just like medical doctors who also pay for their studies to become professionals,” Radaemane said.
Radaemane said a plan was in the offing for them as traditional healers to appeal to the relevant ministry and the office of the prime minister.
Commenting on the matter, the president of Pharmacy Association of Lesotho, Teliso Letsatsi, told the publication that the Bill took a long time to be tabled before the House.
Letsatsi said one of the associations top goals was for the Bill to have been passed by the National Assembly but “because it involved a lot of departments especially that in Lesotho we had no law, everyone believed they had a right to medication because they benefited and left the matter to the professionals.”
He explained that in 2020 November amendments were made and it was only last year that the doctors revisited “it because they are practising two professions; surgery and pharmacy which is very wrong.”
He indicated that the issue for the doctors to be resistant is because they know very well that they have to practice surgery and forget about pharmacy.
“What is going to be helpful when it comes to the law is that everyone sells medication whenever they want. As it is, a customer can get medication anywhere where sold by unregistered dealers. That should come to a stop,” he urged.
He said those dealers who advertise and sell on social media usually deceive buyers as there is no regulatory mechanism for their health safety.
He was mindful of Pakistanis and Indians who he said were bent on importing unapproved medicines and selling it on black market.
“What Pakistan and Indians do is to make money not caring about the health of Basotho,” Letsatsi warned.
