The Medicine Control Agency, the national agency responsible for regulating pharmaceutical products and services in the country, temporarily shut down Innovarx Global Health Office on Friday after the agency claimed the company ‘failed to meet regulatory standards.’
US-trained Gambian-based Medical Doctor Ismail Badjie owns the Company and has offered pharmaceutical services in the Gambia for the past few years.
In a starement, the Company founder, Dr. Badjie, Said:
“We regret to inform you that our @innovarxglobal facilities have been temporarily closed following recent MCA inspections, which led to the confiscation of all medications on our premises.
We extend our sincere apologies to the general public in #Gambia and our cherished sponsors in the Diaspora for any potential disruption in your treatment plans and medication therapy.
Our dedicated team is actively working to implement mitigation strategies to minimize any inconvenience caused. We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding as we engage with all relevant stakeholders to address this matter.”
Meanwhile, TAT has made efforts to speak to the officials of the Medicine Control agency but proved futile at the time of penning this post.
TAT will make a follow-up to hear from MCA officials as we investigate the circumstances following the closer of Innovarx Global Health in Gambia.
Dr Ismaila Badjie founder and CEO of Innovarx Global health highlights his frustration after the closure of his company Innovarx Globalhealth by MCA Gambia.
“If it doesn’t end now for us Gambians, the soul of our nation will always have a price tag with a foreign price.
For decades, the pharmaceutical industry has been dominated by a select few, building generational wealth off the backs of Gambians with little innovation or increase in value for the people.
Before anyone in the Gambia wants to ask me about regulations, I need us to begin the conversation from here.
I am a Licensed Pharmacist in the USA and The #Gambia with over a decade of experience, and the Founder & CEO of @innovarxglobal. This means I am the Supervising Pharmacist of the business entity and also the Majority Owner of the business.
I now expect every pharmacy in the Gambia to start by declaring who the Business Owner is and who the Supervising Pharmacist is.
Also my expectation is every place of business where medications are dispensed receives the same thorough inspection I received and asked to furnish every single document on every medication I have imported from the USA in the past years.
Once all of us, as competitors, declare who is bankrolling our institutions, then I can begin to break down how, since the AKI incident in the Gambia, rules and laws have been manipulated not to ensure public safety but to strengthen competitive positioning, weaponizing the law and regulations to annihilate perceived threats.
This is bigger than just ‘ensuring safe medications are made readily available’.
I literally have lost everything there is to lose for this venture, so we can take the gloves off and make this a national discourse.
My competitors (most of whom the people of the Gambia do not even know by name and face) use the laws and the Gambian people to neutralize their threats.
My Legal Counsel will take it from here.
No more Comments”