TOMRIC News Agency (Dar es Salaam)
Joachim Mwalongo
26 June 2001
Dar Es Salaam — Few days after President Benjamin Mkapa has directed the Ministry of Health to urgently order anti-AIDS drugs, a Dar Es Salaam-based pharmaceutical company, Keko Pharmaceuticals, has said will soon start producing anti-retroviral drugs, which will be cheap.
The company's executive director, Mercy Kimaro has told the local press here that her company was about to conclude discussions with a South African company so that they could jointly manufacture and sell anti-HIV/AIDS drugs in Tanzania. Neither the expected sellng price nor the name of a company which they will collaborate in the business were disclosed, but she has maintained that the prices would be lower than most of imported anti-HIV/AIDS drugs.
A decision to manufacture anti-retroviral drugs by the Keko Pharmaceuticals company come when another Dar Es Salaam-based firm, Salama Pharmaceutiacal Limited, has announced that it was expecting a consignment of anti-HIV/AIDS drugs from India, which would be sold at between Tshs60,000 and Tshs80,000 for monthly dose. So far, the readily available drugs in Tanzania are from western manufacturers, which sell at retail price of between Tshs350,000 and Tshs450,000.
Ordering the Ministry of Health to start importation of anti-HIV/AIDS drugs last week, President Benjamin Mkapa said that the situation was appealing as statistics indicated that over 200 children in Tanzania were dying everyday from HIV/AIDS-related diseases.
"The Ministry of Health and the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TANCAIDS) should urgently get in touch with companies manufacturing the drugs for immediate procurements," Mkapa orderd the ministry when addressing to mark the African Child Day held at the national level in Songea Region, southern Tanzania.
The President said his government has abolished Value Added Tax (VAT) on hospital equipment and all taxes for AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis (TB) drugs in order to make them available for use by the victims.
"AIDS pandemic is threatening to wipe out not only Tanzania, but also the entire African continent from the global map," he told his audience of children, diplomats accredited to Tanzania, representatives of some UN agencies and non-government organizations (NGOs) and a handful Members of Parliament who attended an event.
He said the situation was appealing and urgent measures should be employed to arrest it. More than 10 percent of the active labor force in Tanzania is said to be HIV positive, the Minister of State in the President's Office, Dr. Abdalallah Kigoda said recently. According to him, at least 1.7 million Tanzanians were infected with HIV by 2000.
"The total number of AIDS patients admitted to hospitals, especially in urban areas, is now 50 percent of total admissions," he said. Explaining further, he said 60 percent of patients suffering from Tuberculosis have symptoms of HIV/AIDS infection. According to him, life expectancy in Tanzania has dropped from 52 to 47 years.
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