Uganda starts manufacturing HIV diagnostic kits as Museveni launches biggest plant in region

Uganda will no longer import malaria and HIV diagnostic test kits after president Yoweri Museveni launched the biggest manufacturing plant in Kampala on Tuesday.

While commissioning the plant which is the first of its kind in the Great Lakes region, Museveni said Microhaem Scientifics (MHS) will support Uganda and the regional health sectors to develop local manufacturing capacity towards improving and sustaining the medical supply chain needs by producing high-quality and affordable kits.

“I want to congratulate the Ugandan scientists for really waking up,” he said.

“It is really not good for people who say they are scientists to fail to understand and use this scientific knowledge to solve problems,” the President added.

He encouraged the Ugandan scientists to partner with other experts across the globe to develop the sector further.

“If you wake up it will be easy for you to find partners in the world because those partners are there; the ones who woke up earlier than you. I thank scientists from the US and China for working with you.”

According to Museveni partnerships are possible since the country has the market for such products.

“The partnerships are good. Recently, I visited Nakasero Hospital, and I found Dr. Mbonye there and he told me that they partnered with a Dutch company to expand the hospital. This is possible because you already have a very powerful resource; that is the market. Market is part of the business, somebody who manufactures, if he cannot sell, then that is not business,” he said.

He assured the plant proprietors that the Ministry of Health would buy the minimum quantity which they need to enable them to get partners.

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja appreciated the President for his visionary leadership.

“When we met you last year, the proprietors of this facility told you that they were going to produce two manufacturing plants; one for diagnostics and another for vaccines. I’m happy that we are launching the one for diagnostics today,” Nabbanja said.

According to the Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, Uganda has for years noted that for years been facing a challenge of unsustainable importation of the required diagnostics and medicines for Malaria, TB, Sleeping sickness and Ebola.

“Your Excellency, it was about just 15 years ago when Quality Chemicals Limited began to manufacture malaria and HIV drugs locally and it is now manufacturing more drugs including for hepatitis B,” she said.

“We are therefore very excited that we are now expanding the local manufacturing capacity to include laboratory reagents and other diagnostic devices. I congratulate Microhaem Group of Companies for leading in the local diagnostic manufacturing space,” the minister said.

“This investment is worthwhile because Uganda is at the heart of eight East African countries, including Somalia with a combined population of more than 300 million people. We also have market access to over 1.4 billion people of the African Continent through the African Continental Free Trade Area,” she added.

Dr. Cedric Akwesigye, the Managing Director of Microhaem Scientifics, said the huge facility has been equipped with state-of-the-art technology to produce a range of both Molecular and Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kits, HIV Viral load test kits, HIV Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) test kits, and HIV Drug Monitoring kits.

Microhaem Scientifics portfolio also includes HIV RDT kits, HIV Self-Test kits, Malaria RDT kits, and Hepatitis B kits.

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