A drug producing factory commenced operation in the Southern Province of Kandahar the day before yesterday.
71 investors have invested almost 50 million dollars in the factory in three parts in a period of six years.
Officials of the factory said that currently one phase of the factory has been activated, which has the capacity to make 5600000 pills, 2000000 capsules and 60000 bottles of syrup in eight working hours.
The head of the factory, Muhammad Saeed Sediq uttered that the factory has the international standards of the World Health Organization and GMP.
Sediq added: “These three machines are active. The medicine has been produced, the result is positive and the medicine has been placed in our warehouse. There is a hope that its two more sections will be activated in the next three months.”
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the factory the officials of Afghanistan Food and Drug Authority said that more than one billion dollars are spent on medicines in the country every year, and the lack of quality medicines causes thousands of patients to go abroad and spend a lot of money for treatment.
Abdul Bari Omar, Acting Head of AFDA said: “Every year, Afghans take 300 million dollars out of Afghanistan to treat their patients. Afghans pay 77 percent of their health expenses out of their own pockets. If the food and drug quality is good here, our food products, and our medicines are standardized Afghan people will not wander in the borders of other countries.”
Acting Minister of Industry and Trade Nooruddin Azizi said: “We have always tried and are doing to support our industry.”
Meanwhile, traders and industrialists are asking the government for more support.
According to the information, 60 out of 86 pharmaceutical factories are currently active in Afghanistan.
Recently, in a report published by the World Health Organization, it was stated that Afghans spend 70 percent of their income on medicine.
