Lusaka — IMPORTED pharmaceutical products are hindering the growth of the Zambian manufacturing industry and the economy, managing director for Pharmanova Zambia and Malawi Kaustabh Dharkar has said.

In an interview, Dharkar said promoting the importation of drugs was inhibiting local manufacturing of pharmaceuticals.

"The government must reduce on imported products such as drugs. For example, if you import drugs from India, you are giving the Indian government access to growth of their economy and that does not benefit the Zambian economy at all," Dharkar said.

"What we want as manufacturers of pharmaceutical products is support from our government. We are capable of producing high quality drugs for the Zambian community."

He said Pharmanova, which had been manufacturing pharmaceutical products since 1992, was one of the few pharmaceutical-manufacturing industries producing high quality drugs in Zambia.

Dharkar said most Zambian communities needed locally produced drugs, which he said would be more affordable than the imported drugs. He said his company was capable of producing antiretroviral drugs, although he observed that the high cost of producing the drugs would hinder their production in Zambia.

And Dharkar has said his company, which is a manufacturer of NovaCare products, has established a good market since launching the products two years ago.

"NovaCare products are taking centre stage in as far as business is concerned. Our products now are equal to Johnson's products. The only thing we have done is to make our products cheaper so that they can be accessed by everyone in Zambia regardless of their financial status," Dharkar said.