Panafrican News Agency - December 5, 2001
Newton Kulundu told Parliament that despite Kenya's Industrial Property Act passed in August this year, the government was yet to start importing the ARVs, which are used in the management of HIV/AIDS.
Kulundu, who also chairs Parliament's health committee, challenged the government to come clean on the matter, charging that the feet-dragging started after some high ranking government functionaries were invited to Washington.
He said three pharmaceutical firms - Cosmos, Universal and Laboratory and Allied - had applied for licences to locally manufacture generic anti-retroviral, but the government was yet to respond to their request.
According to Health ministry statistics, about 800 Kenyans die daily from AIDS-related complications. Most die because of the high cost of drugs to manage the disease.
It was due to this consideration that the government published the Industrial Property Act of 2001, with clauses giving the government powers to issue licenses to firms interested in manufacturing generic drugs.
Deputy minister for Trade and Industry Albert Ekirapa maintains that certain instruments to accompany the Act were still pending, hence the latter cannot be implemented yet.
But the legislators accuse the government of pandering to multinationals interests at the expense of suffering Kenyans.
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