President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday inaugurated a $35 million pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Larpleku, Ningo-Prampram for the manufacture of serum and vaccines.
The plant which has one of the highest production capacities in West Africa is owned by Atlantic Lifesciences Limited, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company.
The company, which falls under the government’s One District One Factory program, would begin commercial manufacturing of infusions, anaesthetics, vaccines and eye drops for the Ghanaian market as well as the West African region.
As part of the program, the President also inspected Atlantic Lifesciences Limited’s serum and vaccine factory located at the same site of the Larpleku factory.
Inaugurating the plant, President Akufo-Addo said the establishment of the plant was a concrete manifestation of a new paradigm of economic development which the government was vigorously pursuing to promote value addition and industrial activity in an enabling environment. and business-friendly.
He said the facility was a further achievement of efforts by the government in partnership with the private sector to establish at least one medium to large scale business in every district of Ghana.
According to the President, while previous attempts at rural economic revitalization in Ghana had focused primarily on the provision of physical infrastructure, his administration’s 1D1F program focused on the provision and promotion of commercially viable enterprises to generate economic growth. sustainable and accelerated economy. development in rural communities.
“Furthermore, 1D1F will address the challenge of widespread poverty and underdevelopment among rural and peri-urban communities through the establishment of an institutional framework that will attract private sector investment and rural economic activities, create jobs and increase income levels,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo said the establishment of the plant would generate about 400 direct jobs in the district, in addition to the existing 380 jobs created by the industry.
He noted that out of the total $35 million spent to establish the manufacturing plant, about $10 million of the amount was provided by the government through the EXIM Bank of Ghana for the purchase of factories, of equipment and machinery.
President Akufo-Addo said that transforming Ghana’s economy from a commodity producing and exporting economy to an industrial value adding economy remained one of the top priorities of the government and that this would require between others a dynamic investment climate and strong regulations and incentives. support scheme for private investment in these strategic sectors.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Alan Kyerematen, said that under the GhanaCare Obaatanpa scheme, the government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry will undertake activities to help the sector pharmaceutical to take advantage of emerging opportunities.
Activities, he said, would include upgrading pharmaceutical companies to meet World Health Organization global manufacturing standards, providing leadership and technical assistance to enable companies to operate efficiently and the creation of an equivalent sector to support the local pharmaceutical industry.
He assured the government’s continued support for the pharmaceutical sectors to become more competitive in local and foreign markets.
Deputy Minister of Health, Ms. Tina Mensah, said the establishment of the facility is part of the government’s vision to secure much-needed vaccines through national vaccine development in the short, medium and long term, adding that the department was eager to collaborate with Atlantic Lifesciences Limited in the field of local development of vaccines and antisera.
The Managing Director of Atlantic Lifesciences Limited, Mr. Dhananjah Tripathi, said the inauguration of the facility has brought the number of local infusion manufacturing industries in Ghana to five with an annual capacity of 133 million bottles.
He said that with Ghana’s annual brewing requirement standing at 25 million bottles, companies were more than ready to meet the country’s brewing needs.
He therefore called on the government, through the Ministry of Health, to consider restricting the import of infusions to prevent these companies from competing with substandard and counterfeit imports.
