'Sanctions bleeding Zimbabwe health sector'

Published: 12 hours ago

Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Slayman Kwidini has attributed the collapse of Zimbabwe's local pharmaceutical manufacturing sector to Western-imposed sanctions, citing firms such as Datlabs and Caps Pharmaceuticals as major casualties.

Speaking in Parliament during a question-and-answer session, Kwidini said Zimbabwe did not face such challenges before the sanctions era.

"We have been discussing this issue for more than 20 years. However, before those 20 years, we did not have these problems; that problem actually came after the sanctions were introduced. Companies like Datlabs and Caps were affected by the sanctions that some people reject here," he said.

The deputy minister added that the government had not remained passive but had sought alternative international partners to maintain medicine supplies.

"As the government, we did not wait for the removal of sanctions. We proceeded to other countries," Kwidini said.

However, he acknowledged the risks of importing medicines from unfamiliar suppliers. "When you try to procure something that you do not see, you may end up buying counterfeit drugs that may give you problems here. Where we buy, people will be at the factory when the drugs are manufactured to ensure that they will not affect our people," he explained.

Separately, the United States continues to maintain that its measures are targeted rather than blanket sanctions. Brian Mast, a Republican Congressman from Florida and Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has introduced an omnibus Bill, the Department of State Policy Provisions Act, which seeks to repeal the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA).

Under the proposed legislation, US support for international credit to Zimbabwe would remain conditional on the full compensation of white former farmers displaced under the country's fast-track land reform programme. US authorities insist there are no broad sanctions on Zimbabwe, stating that the embargo specifically targets individuals and institutions implicated in human rights abuses or corrupt practices.
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Tags: Sanctions,