Maputo — Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has challenged the National Medicine Factory, which was recently certified by the World Health Organization (WHO), to boost production in order to reduce the import of medicines for the National Health System (SNS).

According to Nyusi, who was speaking on Monday, during a visit to the National Medicines Factory, in the Machava neighbourhood, in the southern city of Matola, the factory, which has been operating since 2015, has an annual production capacity of one billion doses of medicines.

"The medicine that leaves here goes everywhere in the region', he told the factory's work force. "Apart from the factories that have existed for a long time, even before the independence of South Africa itself, there is nothing like this in the region'.

The factory has the capacity to produce 83 essential drugs, including anti-malarials, drugs to cope with high blood pressure, and vitamins.

"There could be more, but the increase in production is taking place gradually. We can't take risks by doing a lot in one day and then backtracking. The establishment of this factory in the country represents a gain for Mozambicans', Nyusi said.

He recalled that in 2015, albeit timidly, the factory got off the ground "and it has consolidated. Nowadays, it is producing for us, and it is also ready to produce for the world. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the factory was sorely needed to face a very difficult time, the ships weren't running, the imported medicines couldn't come, but now we have a factory ready to produce and assist.'

Nyusi believes that this is one of the major factories of medicine in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), employing 250 people, including Mozambicans and foreigners.

"There are some factories in Zimbabwe, but they are small. On the other hand, the pharmaceutical factories in Kenya have less than half the capacity of this Mozambican plant', he said.