The South African government plans to establish a competitive state pharmaceutical company in a bid to ‘de-commodify essential medicine supply to meet patient and national fiscal imperatives’.
This was one of the findings in the Presidential Health Summit report which was released to the public last week.
The report mandates that this state-owned company should be ‘innovative, competitive and highly skilled’ – with India provided as a country with a similar company and systems.
Government also plans to support innovative private sector initiatives ‘rooted in social responsibility ethos’ the report states.
While the introduction of a competitive state pharmaceutical company is seen as a medium-term possibility, the idea of a state-owned pharmaceutical company was mooted as far back as 2007.
According to Rapport, the government had previously instituted a private-public partnership with a company called Ketlaphela; however, this partnership i
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