THE MINISTER of Health, Ummy Mwalimu, has said that President Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan is determined to bring about a revolution in the industrial sector, especially in the pharmaceutical and medical equipment sectors.

President Dr. Samia has continued to provide investment funds in the industrial sector and all development projects initiated in the fifth phase are being implemented.

Mwalimu said this in Njombe region while inspecting production at a gloves factory located in Idofi, in the region.

The factory is managed by the Medical Supply Department (MSD) which is expected to be inaugurated today by Vice President, Dr. Philip Mpango.

He said that the construction and production at the factory are satisfactory and meet the needs.

He added that the government's investment in pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries is going to reduce imports and the use of foreign currency.

In the process of investing in the factory, President Dr. Samia found it was 30 percent, now it is 90 percent.

“The goal of the government of President Dr. Samia is to reach 50 percent from the current 15 percent in the purchase of health products within the country by 2030,” he said.

He said that currently 85 percent of health equipment is purchased abroad, there are challenges including waiting for products for nine months to arrive in the country, causing shortages of medicines, increased use of foreign currency.

Mwalimu emphasized that, currently there are 30 pharmaceutical and medical equipment factories in the country and of those, 11 are operating where the government has already provided more than shs. 11 billion for the development of the factory and the determination to increase the production of pharmaceutical and medical equipment factories.

“I would like to congratulate the MSD Board, we are talking about people's health products, we must be satisfied that they have done so and the factory is in good condition where we will open it before the Local Government Elections,” he emphasized.

MSD Director General, Mavere Tukai, said the factory has started initial production and is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

He said the factory until its completion will cost 22.5 billion shillings, after the completion of construction and installation of machinery, the factory will have the capacity to produce 20,000 gloves per hour equivalent to 10,000 pairs, thus producing 86,400,000 pairs per year.

“This is equivalent to 83.4 percent of the estimated demand for gloves in the country of 104 million pairs according to the demand forecast for glove products in the country in 2023/2024,” he said.

And the Njombe Regional Commissioner, Antony Mtaka, said President Dr. Samia has made major changes in the factory and is determined to see its production become productive for Tanzanians, especially the people of Njombe who have begun to benefit from the existing opportunities, especially getting priority in employment.