DODOMA: THE Deputy Minister for Health Dr Godwin Mollel has said discussions were still going on within the government to place a food regulatory mandate under the Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA).
Dr Mollel spoke of the matter yesterday when responding to a question posed by Moshi Rural MP (CCM) Priscus Tarimo who sought to know the government’s position on plans to reinstate the disbanded Tanzania Foods and Drugs Authority (TFDA) so that it could deal with the regulatory function of foods.
Mr Tarimo had views that placing the regulatory function under the Tanzania Bureau of Standards ( TBS) was contrary to the world’s best practice.
According to the deputy minister, when the discussion is finalised, the government will bring its recommendations to Parliament.
Dr Mollel said the government, through Parliament, decided to remove the regulatory mandate of foods and drugs from the defunct TFDA before placing it under the TBS to smoothen business operations.
In his supplementary question, Mr Tarimo claimed that TBS appears to have failed to play its regulatory role on foods.
He said due to the shortcoming, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and HIV/AIDS called for reinstating the food regulatory function to TMDA while other committees called for reinstating TFDA.
Giving additional answers to the MP’s supplementary question, Dr Mollel said the government will proceed with the process of reviewing the decision, adding that the recommendations will be tabled in Parliament.
TMDA is an executive agency under the Ministry of Health.
It is responsible for regulating safety, quality and effectiveness of medicines, medical devices and diagnostics.
To improve public service delivery, TMDA is managed as an executive agency in accordance with the Executive Agencies Act, cap. 245 as amended in 2009
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