The Executive Secretary of the Pharmaceutical Importers, Exporters, and Wholesalers Association of Ghana (PIEWAG), Mr Joe Fiifi Yamoah, has appealed to the government to establish a pharmaceutical bank to help boost the operations of the local pharmaceutical industry.

According to Mr Yamoah, the pharmaceutical industry is capital-intensive, hence the need for a tailor-made bank like the already-existing Agriculture Development Bank that solely supports the activities of farmers across the country.

Mr Yamoah made this appeal on Accra100.5FM’s morning show Ghana Yensom hosted by Kwame Obeng Sarkodie on Accra100.5 FM on Monday, 10 January 2021.

He revealed that establishing a middle-size pharmaceutical company in Ghana will cost about $30 million.

Mr Yamoah said the purchase of machinery coupled with standard requirements of the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Drug Authority and the Ghana Standards Authority, pushes the cost of establishing a local company high.

“We need a bank purposely for supporting the local pharmaceutical industry to prevent players in the industry from competing with other businessmen for cash on the open market,” he proposed. 

He explained that until this is done, the desire to make Ghana a vaccine hub will not become a reality. 

“As an association, we’ve all the time advocated this to cushion members to enable them to bridge the pharmaceutical gap,” he added.

He called on the government to reduce the cost of doing business in the country to create some leverage for the local pharmaceutical industry.

“As an association, we are not against manufacturing because we have members who have also ventured into manufacturing after years of importation and export,” he noted.