By Own Correspondent- The pharmaceutical sector in Zimbabwe has been besieged by shrewd business people without medical background who have seen the industry as an Eldorado to mine super profits at the expense of national health.
Following last week’s expose that the sector was largely controlled by a cartel of agents, with exclusive dealership agreements for critical medicines from particular manufacturers, investigations by The Herald also revealed that only two of the top five wholesalers have a medical background.
The rest are non-pharmacists and have no medical experience or qualifications but are merely businesspersons who have seen an opportunity to make money in this loosely regulated industry.
This has also seen even those running retail pharmacies enticing recent pharmaceutical graduates into fronting their business empires to enable them get operating licences.
“Most of the people behind this wholesaling business are simply business people who have found an opportunity of making money. This is why they find it easy to charge exorbitant prices because they have no ethical considerations to worry about. All they want is money,” said a pharmacist who spoke to The Herald on condition of anonymity.
They said the same situation is obtaining in the retail sector, where operating conditions stipulate that 51 percent shareholding must be held by a pharmacist.
“What they are simply doing is that they lure some of these recent graduates to take up 51 percent ownership but in essence the business persons are the ones that would be calling the shots. This shows that the sector has been besieged by greedy and selfish people who were not trained to serve but to take advantage of people’s conditions,” added the source.
These claims were corroborated by another source who called The Herald following the publication of the first story last week.
The source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed that he used to buy Timolol — a medication for the eyes — for RTGS$12 but was recently charged US$7 by a local pharmacy.
“The pharmacist said no other pharmacy had that medicine except them and we had to choose to either buy it at that price or return home empty-handed,” said the source.
Investigations further revealed that some Indian generic medicines were marketed here in Zimbabwe with different brand names yet they were supplied by the same manufacturer.
For example, Tadaloyil tablets for erectile dysfunction manufactured by Macleods, is marketed here in Zimbabwe as Skypharm Tadalofil and in India as megalis. Both have the same quantities.
However,. in India, this drug costs at most US$2,21 in retail pharmacies against US$12 being charged by local retail pharmacies.
Another drug levofloxacin — an antibiotic — again manufactured by Macleods is marketed here as Skypharm Levofloxacin and in India as Levomac. The antibiotic, which comes in the form of tablets, costs US$0,61 in India and US$5 in Zimbabwe.
“We do not know whether the changing of brand name is a marketing gimmick to overprice these products but it is a cause for concern particularly when we see such price disparities,” said another source.