Afrimedical Manufacturing and Supplies Limited, the continent’s largest syringe manufacturer, is pushing for local dominance, highlighting its capacity to meet not only Nigeria’s needs but also those of the entire West African region.
The General Manager of Afrimedical Manufacturing and Supplies Limited, Mr. Gabi Al-Aridi who spoke on the sideline of the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria, HFN, 3rd Annual Conference with the theme: “Expanding Access to Quality Healthcare: Transforming Nigeria through Innovation Partnership, and Sustainability“, emphasised the significance of connecting with end-users and the crucial role of the Presidential Executive Order on localisation in bolstering domestic manufacturing.
“Today is a special day that we have as Afri-Medical Manufacturing and Supplies Limited, the biggest syringe manufacturing company in Africa, producing about 1.8 billion syringes per annum.
“This event today makes a good point of having the connection between us as a local manufacturer with end users.”
He stressed the importance of the Presidential Executive Order, which promotes local manufacturing, and highlighted Afrimedical’s ability to satisfy regional demand.
“They should know also that today we have a company that is able not only to satisfy the capacity in Nigeria alone but also in the West African region.”
He said although the Executive Order by the President was yet to yield significant impact or be implemented, there have been lots of challenges in the market due to the importation of products that are of low quality into the Nigerian market.
He, however, commended the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for its efforts in combating counterfeit and unregistered medical products.
We can see that NAFDAC is making a lot of efforts in the markets to make sure that all the syringes that are not registered and that the registration has expired, are being moved out of the market, with also some drugs that have been in the market that are meant to be classified as counterfeit products.
So we appreciate NAFDAC and the government for their efforts in pushing for the implementation of the Executive Order.”
Despite its significant production capacity and adherence to international standards, Afri-Medical continues to face challenges from imported products.
Al-Aridi highlighted the company’s commitment to quality.
He said: “One of the biggest challenges as a manufacturing company of syringes in Nigeria is having to see that other foreign products are being imported into the country, let me also mention that Afrimedical is using medically-grade plastics, it’s an ISO-certified company, we have all the capacities and standards of making sure that we have top-quality production and products being produced in this country.”