Ensure food, drugs in Zanzibar are safe

By ISSA YUSSUF

AS people continue to complain over substandard and fake goods, the Zanzibar Foods and Drugs Agency (ZFDA) has been urged to ensure that all the consumable products imported to the Islands are safe for its people.

The call was made here by the Deputy Minister for Health, Ms Harusi Said Suleiman (pictured), at the launching of the ZFDA Information Management System or ‘ZFDA e-portal’ as par the ‘East African Community Medicine Regulatory Harmonisation’ (EAC-MRH).
“With this support, you have to ensure that food and drugs in Zanzibar are safe for the people,” said Ms Suleiman as she thanked Trade-Mark East Africa (TMEA) for the support as she appealed to the agency officers to work hard to meet their goal.
TMEA funded the design and roll out of the e-portal with a grant of US 150,000 dollars. It is expected that the e-portal will ease trade document verifications and improve health safety inspections, along with administration and management of regulatory services and documents issued by ZFDA.
Dr Burhan Simai, the Executive Director of ZFDA, said its agency “Prides itself in joining the ranks of 4 other countries in EAC who have rolled out e-portals for their pharmaceutical regulatory bodies.
It is a reassurance to citizens that food and drugs in the market are of good quality.” TMEA Tanzania Country Director, Mr John Ulanga, said that supporting the portal is in line with the organisation’s commitment to working with EAC institutions to reduce barriers to trade,
“Easing the importation and transiting of food and drugs in Zanzibar is important in enhancing the supply chain.” Mr Ulanga further said that a major bureaucratic red tape is reduced or eliminated because the portal enables regional and global manufacturers,
importers and exporters of food and drugs related products in Zanzibar to apply for medicine registration, import licences and other regulatory documents, online and receive documents electronically.
It is expected that with the system in place, the average time taken to acquire import and export certificate will be reduced by 95 per cent, while the costs associated with acquiring the import/export certificate will reduce by 80 per cent.
Other benefits include enhanced transparency, integrity and accountability as online systems collate information, making it possible to analyse data and make informed decision as well as reduce human contact.