Government targets 70% local medicine production as manufacturers seek funding

Government is targeting a significant increase in local medicine production, with an ambition to raise the country’s capacity from about 30 per cent to 70 per cent and reduce dependence on imported medicines.

The move is expected to strengthen medicine security and improve access to essential medicines, as manufacturers call for increased financing to expand production and develop more complex pharmaceutical products.

Director of Technical Coordination at the Ministry of Health, Dr Hafez Adam Taher, who represented the Minister of Health at the opening of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists (WAPCP) Ghana Chapter Annual General Meeting in Accra, said Ghana’s reliance on imported medicines leaves the country vulnerable to external supply disruptions.

“In Ghana, where we still import over 70% of our medicines, and almost 100% of active pharmaceutical ingredients, this vulnerability is real,” he said.

Dr Taher said medicine security goes beyond having medicines available on shelves, stressing the need to guarantee access to safe, effective and quality-assured medicines at affordable prices and at the right time.

He outlined government’s commitment to strengthening local pharmaceutical production, including plans to establish a pharmaceutical innovation park equipped with shared utilities and centralised quality-control laboratories to support manufacturers.

However, Managing Director of Kinapharma Limited, Kofi Nsiah Opoku, says access to funding remains a major obstacle to expanding the industry.

“In simple terms, we need finance. We need money to build new factories,” he said.

He explained that local manufacturers have largely concentrated on basic pharmaceutical products such as tablets and capsules but are seeking to move into more complex products, including vaccines and injectables.

“We have been very basic from solitary manufacturing, tablet, capsules… Now we want to move to the next stages, which is more complex, like vaccines, injectables, et cetera. That is what we are working on,” he added.

Presidential Coordinator for the Ghana Pharmaceutical Hub, Dr Bernice Makafui Brempong, said the ambition is to reverse the current production-import balance by increasing local production from 30 per cent to 70 per cent.

“We should move from producing 30% to 70% and reduce the importation,” she said.

She called for stronger collaboration between government, industry and professional bodies to build the capacity needed to achieve the target.

The discussions took place at the WAPCP Ghana Chapter’s Annual General Meeting, held under the theme: “Advancing Medicine Security in Ghana Through Local Production, Regulatory Excellence and Health System Strengthening Towards Universal Health Coverage.”