Ghana Can Manufacture Its Own Malaria Tests And Drugs Instead Of Importing From India And China - Scientist

Story by Fada Amakye

Dr. Andrews Akwasi Agbleke, CEO of Zeme Biohub and Founder of the Central Institute of Technology, says Ghana has scientists who can manufacture medical products locally instead of importing them.

Speaking at a meeting of scientists, Dr Agbleke said the purpose is to bring together scientists capable of developing technologies in Ghana.

He gave the example of a malaria test at the hospital, which is normally imported from India or China, and asked if people know there are scientists in Ghana who can manufacture them.

He said the same applies to drugs given at the hospital, which are normally imported, yet Ghanaian scientists can manufacture them.

The problem, he said, is that these scientists are scattered across the country and even across Africa, with some in Ghana, Egypt, South Africa and Kenya.

He said the goal of the conference is to bring together all those interested in biotechnology, which is the concept of manufacturing these products locally.

Some participants, he said, are working on new diagnostics for fungal disease, while others are working on vaccines and medical devices.

He said the goal is for all of them to know each other, and then build a manufacturing space where they can all come and manufacture their products from inside the hub.

He used paracetamol, popularly called pala in Ghana, as an example, saying people trust foreign pala and local ones less.

He explained that to trust a medical product made locally in Ghana, it must be done the right way, meeting regulatory standards in a GMP certified facility, which is a Good Manufacturing Practices facility.

He said if you manufacture paracetamol in your small house and sell it, people will not trust it, but if you build the right space and get Ghana FDA and Ghana Standards Authority to inspect it, and even bring international agencies, people will trust it.

He said India and China were not great at first, but what made them good is because regulators kept coming to inspect, monitor and ensure standards, and over time their products improved.

He said Africa can do the same thing, adding that Ghana cannot say because somebody tried and it didn’t go well, so it cannot be done.

He said Ghana has experts and what they need is the environment, equipment and resources, adding that some Ghanaians out there are doing amazing things and people cannot imagine what they could do if given the space and opportunity in Ghana.

Dr Agbleke said the concept of the hub is to build about 80 companies in five years.

To build 80 companies, he said, they have to look at where Ghana spends a lot of its dollars, and the first one is diagnostics, because if you cannot detect the disease, how do you treat it.