By Saio Marrah
Parliament of Sierra Leone has on Thursday 20th May, 2021, ratified a treaty called African Medicine Agency (AMA) that will serve as a continental body that will harmonise and strengthen systems that govern the regulation of medicine and medical products on the continent.
Speaking in the well of Parliament, the Minister of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Austin Demby said the treaty came into force after the African Union member states ratified it. He said it will regulate access to safe, effective and good quality and affordable medicines as well as health technologies through coordination of ongoing national and regional regulatory systems.
It will also strengthen and harmonize the African Union Commission, regional health organizations and member states while providing them with regulatory guidance.
He said the AMA will not only serve to roll back substandard falsified medical products, but will also ensure easy affordable access to essential medicines on the continent.
He said harmonization has already proved successful at regional level at East African Communities (EAC), and the Southern African Development Communities (SADC). He said the collaborative efforts with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), West African Health Organization (WAHO) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), impressively demonstrates that it is possible with harmonization.
He said the successes of those African regional medicines regulatory harmonization initiative in Africa served as evidence of the increasing need for an umbrella agency that will fully harness the combined potential of all of the above bodies into a formidable continental regulatory force to be reckoned with.
He said with AMA, Africans will not depend on other regulatory bodies to determine what is best, in terms of medicine, vaccine and other health related products.
The minister challenged MPs that it is time for Africans to stand for themselves to determine for themselves what is best, instead of relying on others to determine that.
Dr. Demby said indeed there are many poor health facilities within the country and that as a ministry , work is in progress to address the situation. He said the ministry is about to construct one of the best health facilities at Kerry Town, which he said when completed ,the country will be proud of. He stated that there are good health facilities as well and that they should be appreciated.
In his Contribution, Member of Parliament, Abdul Karim Kamara of Constituency 059,Kambia District, applauded the treaty and said the current health system in the country is in a bad shape to the extent that when a woman wants to go into labour at the Ola during Hospital, one has to purchase a gallon of water for her use. Paramount Chief Member of Parliament from Tonkolili, Bai Kurr Kanagbaro Sanka III embraced the treaty and admitted to be emotionally attached to it. He called on the minister to make it possible for pharmacologists to start producing drugs in Sierra Leone.
The Chairman of Committee on Health in Parliament, Moses Baimba Jokie of Constituency 091, Bonthe district, recommended that while Africans should be producing their own medicines, they should do so in collaboration with traditional healers and other medical people.
Another Member of Parliament, Dr. Ibrahim Bun Kamara, of constituency 068 Port Loko District, praised the minister for the treaty but reminded him to focus also on preventive health.
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