Govt dissolves Natpharm board

Government has dissolved the Natpharm (Pvt) Ltd board and will be setting up a new one soon in line with the Public Entities Corporate Governance Act, Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo has said.

The outgoing seven-member board, which was chaired by medical practitioner Dr George Washaya, was appointed in 2015 by former Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa.

Asked why the board was dissolved before the expiry of its term Dr Moyo said Government felt there was need for new ideas to tackle emerging challenges in provision of pharmaceutical products - which is currently the ministry's number one headache.

"As you know, the issue of medicine availability and affordability has been very topical in recent months and it is upon these challenges that we really need to up our game and give a new impetus to tackling these issues," said Dr Moyo.

He said the names of prospective board members have already been submitted to the Corporate Governance Unit and the ministry was waiting for their approval. Natpharm is the sole purchaser of pharmaceutical products from manufacturers for the public sector. Some private pharmacies also procure medicines from Natpharm.

More to follow....