— New facility to target falsified medicines, pursue ISO certification and WHO regulatory standards
By Akoi M. Baysah, Jr.
Liberia has taken a major step toward strengthening the integrity of its health supply chain with the signing of a US$9 million Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the Liberia Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Authority (LMHRA) and its international partner, Quality Management Solutions (QMS).
The agreement seeks to overhaul the country’s outdated Quality Control Laboratory and position Liberia to meet global regulatory standards.The deal was signed on Friday, November 21, at the LMHRA headquarters in Mamba Point.
It commits QMS to modernizing the existing laboratory into a state-of-the-art facility capable of attaining ISO/IEC-17025:2017 Certification and reaching the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Maturity Level 3, benchmarks that Liberia has never met.
Speaking at the inception meeting, LMHRA Managing Director Dr. Luke Bawo described the partnership as a “big leap” for the health sector.
However, he warned that Liberia’s current inability to verify the quality of medicines has placed the national health system under severe strain.“We cannot authenticate the quality of commodities in circulation,” Dr. Bawo said.
“Right now, we can only perform visual and physical testing. We cannot detect impurities or determine whether medicines contain the correct strength.”
He revealed that unstable electricity, inadequate equipment, limited reagents, and the absence of accreditation have forced the Authority to send test samples abroad, at high cost to government and private importers.
“The quality of any health system depends on the quality of commodities in circulation,” he said. “This partnership marks a new day. Within two years, we expect to meet all global qualifications.”
Under the PPP framework, QMS will operate the upgraded laboratory as a profit-oriented entity to recover its investment. Revenue will be shared 65 percent to QMS and 35 percent to the Government of Liberia through LMHRA.
QMS General Manager Shoaib Mirza announced that the project includes structural renovation and the installation of advanced testing equipment.
The enhanced facility will analyze pharmaceuticals, medical consumables, food and animal feeds, petroleum products, and sanitization chemicals.
“We will implement a Quality Management System that guarantees impartiality and consistency,” Mirza said.
He also committed to delivering test results within 15 to 30 days and training personnel to operate highly sophisticated machinery.
“It is a joy to work with LMHRA in efforts to clear Liberia of harmful medicines,” he added.
Dr. Bawo noted that the path to the signing was marked by a rigorous 15-month review process. The agreement received scrutiny and approval from the Executive, the Public Procurement and Concession Commission (PPCC), the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning’s Concession Committee, the National Investment Commission (NIC), and the Ministry of Justice.
“We insisted on doing everything the right way,” he emphasized. “Despite distractions, we are headed in the right direction.”
LMHRA Deputy Managing Director Dr. Patricia Quaye-Freeman welcomed the partnership as a significant milestone for consumer safety, saying the upgraded laboratory will set a new national benchmark for quality assurance.
She encouraged both technical teams to maintain open dialogue and collaboration throughout the implementation process.
Although the signing ceremony was deliberately low-key, LMHRA announced that a grand commissioning of the modernized facility will take place in four months.
The revamped lab will also introduce new safeguards, including QR-coding for imported health products, a measure expected to drastically reduce the circulation of falsified, expired, and dangerous medicines.
