A managing partner at international business advisory firm, Konfidants Ghana, Michael Kottoh, has proposed for a further discourse between the pharmaceutical industry in Ghana and the government, towards leveraging on domestic production in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.

This follows the urgent search for a vaccine to eradicate the novel coronavirus disease that has since disrupted global supply chains and economies.

Speaking at the 2020 Citi Business Festival on the theme; “The Temporary Window, Speed and the Old Normal - Opportunities and Transformation in the age of COVID-19” Micheal Kottah said the country has a projected six-month period to speed up its discourse with pharmaceutical producers to localize its supply chains.

“Though I’m sceptical about finding a vaccine to cure coronavirus anytime soon, people are getting fatigued around the lockdowns everywhere with a sense that life has to return to normal. A temporary window of opportunity for Ghana is six months to mobilize and move quickly towards the necessity for self-reliance with pharmaceutical production as a critical sector to leverage on and reduce dependency on imports”

Kottah adds; “I'm not too worried about the sectors that are struggling right now, they will bounce back. What I'm worried about is whether we have positioned ourselves to take advantage of the opportunities that exist. Opportunities exist for all of us in production, manufacturing and value addition across all sectors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic”

He however noted that once the global supply chain rebounds, the opportunities to localise most of our supply chains will shut down, therefore a sense of urgency is needed towards boosting the country’s pharmaceutical sector.

President Akufo-Addo earlier in March, met with leaders of the pharmaceutical and banking industries to discuss at length how best Ghana can begin to reduce its dependency on imports, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are far too dependent on the things made abroad, and imported by us for use. We should be making most of the things we use in Ghana, and needed to combat the spread of the pandemic, by ourselves. The pandemic has very severe consequences, but it also presents us with an opportunity. They say necessity is the mother of invention, and advisedly so,” the President earlier said.

Meanwhile, Ghana's pharmaceutical market is projected to post a robust growth in the coming years despite the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the latest June 2020 West Africa Monitor Report by the Fitch Research, Ghana's pharmaceutical expenditure is expected to post a 10-year compound annual growth rate of 11.4 percent and grow from GH¢3.14 billion (US$585 million) in 2019 to GH¢9.26 billion (US$1.55 billion) in 2029.

The report however said a prolonged disruption caused by the pandemic in the pharmaceutical supply chains of Indian and Chinese drug makers, could negatively impact medicine affordability and availability in Ghana.