Manufacturing of medical supplies launched at Swakopmund

The Namibia Institute of Pathology (NIP) has launched a facility at Swakopmund where it will manufacture critical medical equipment, starting with specimen collection tubes.

Dr Iyaloo Konstantinus, NIP’s head of research and development, explained at the launch on Friday that the manufacturing project was born when the Covid-19 pandemic revealed the dangers of relying on the global supply chain for medical supplies.

“One of the challenges we faced during Covid was really the procurement of laboratory consumables because suppliers were actually just prioritising countries with larger populations. Namibia only has a three million population so we were not prioritised.”

Konstantinus continued: “There was a time where we had scarcity and we had to settle for what was there. This is really when we saw the opportunity to say, look, there is a need to localise manufacturing so that we do not have to suffer, during a pandemic or even just every day.”

She explained that localising production of medical supplies would not only eliminate supply chain vulnerabilities caused by the political climate, but also high import costs, long wait times, and quality control and compliance issues. She added that the supplies manufactured at Swakopmund have the chance to strengthen not only Namibia, but the SADC region as a whole.

The facility was jointly funded by the Namibian government and the NIP as well as the Cooperation for Enhancement of SADC Regional Economic Integration (CESARE) project.

The CESARE project manager for the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), Jan Peter Boettcher, stated: “This initiative is impressive, not only for its technical accomplishments and the dedication of the Namibia Institute of Pathology, but also for its contribution to economic progress in the region. It’s a clear example of successful cooperation between regional and national partners.”