News / Health
Indian company seeks Bulawayo partnership to produce medicines locally
07 Aug 2019 at 08:03hrs | Views
AN Indian pharmaceutical company, Centurion Healthcare Private Limited, is seeking to partner a company in Bulawayo to produce medicine locally in a development set to create employment.
Speaking during a tour of Zimbabwe Pharmaceuticals on Sunday, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce Raj Modi said the partnership would go a long way in alleviating problems of drugs faced by members of the public.
"We have brought in a potential investor who is interested in pharmaceuticals and we believe this will help us solve a few challenges faced by the company and locals. I am so eager to ensure that of all things I create employment for Bulawayo residents hence this investment will help create posts for the locals," said Dep Min Modi.
"This company is struggling to produce to its full capacity due to resource constraints and if they get this partner it will be easy to get some finances for raw materials and advanced machines. If they get the finances we will be able to address the current medication shortages in the country as they will produce some medicines locally".
According to Dep Min Modi, the investment will also save the country the scarce forex used to import medication which is not readily available on the local market. Mr Ben Kumani, the administration manager of Zimbabwe Pharmaceuticals, said the company had been forced to let go of 200 employees due to resource constraints.
"We currently have 40 employees though we have capacity to employ more than 200 when all is in order. We have old machinery and unfortunately we cannot raise the resources ourselves as we're struggling to import raw materials given the forex challenges," said Mr Kumani.
He said the prevailing power cuts have also affected the company as employees are now working part time.
"We hope to partner with them so that we can also have a chance to produce new products that are not readily available in Zimbabwe. We are therefore hopeful that they will agree to invest in Bulawayo since Deputy Minister Modi is part of the process," said Mr Kumani.
Centurion Healthcare director Mr Chetan Patel said their company has some plants in Kenya and other African countries and was willing to expand operations to Zimbabwe.
Speaking during a tour of Zimbabwe Pharmaceuticals on Sunday, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce Raj Modi said the partnership would go a long way in alleviating problems of drugs faced by members of the public.
"We have brought in a potential investor who is interested in pharmaceuticals and we believe this will help us solve a few challenges faced by the company and locals. I am so eager to ensure that of all things I create employment for Bulawayo residents hence this investment will help create posts for the locals," said Dep Min Modi.
"This company is struggling to produce to its full capacity due to resource constraints and if they get this partner it will be easy to get some finances for raw materials and advanced machines. If they get the finances we will be able to address the current medication shortages in the country as they will produce some medicines locally".
"We currently have 40 employees though we have capacity to employ more than 200 when all is in order. We have old machinery and unfortunately we cannot raise the resources ourselves as we're struggling to import raw materials given the forex challenges," said Mr Kumani.
He said the prevailing power cuts have also affected the company as employees are now working part time.
"We hope to partner with them so that we can also have a chance to produce new products that are not readily available in Zimbabwe. We are therefore hopeful that they will agree to invest in Bulawayo since Deputy Minister Modi is part of the process," said Mr Kumani.
Centurion Healthcare director Mr Chetan Patel said their company has some plants in Kenya and other African countries and was willing to expand operations to Zimbabwe.
Source - Chronicle
