By Pemphero Malimba:
Tanzania’s High Commissioner to Malawi, Agnes Richard Kayola, has urged Malawi to engage Tanzanian state and non-state actors to improve the availability of medicines and medical equipment in public health facilities.
Kayola said Malawi could obtain supplies at lower costs by working with Tanzania’s Medical Stores Department (MSD) and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
She was speaking on the sidelines of the closure of a surgical camp conducted by personnel from Tanzania’s Benjamin Mkapa Hospital in partnership with Surgical, Obstetric, Trauma and Anaesthesia Care Convoys and MSD.
The camp ran at Mzuzu Central Hospital and Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe from September 28 to October 9, 2026.
“I encourage Malawian authorities to consider establishing a permanent clinical exchange framework alongside a joint procurement mechanism with Tanzania’s MSD.
“Such strategic collaboration will significantly strengthen Malawi’s national pharmaceutical supply chain and enhance regional health security,” Kayola said.
She also said the Tanzanian government was working with Malawian counterparts on a legal framework to facilitate referrals of Malawian patients to health facilities in Tanzania.
Ministry of Health Principal Secretary for Administration Bestone Chisamile said the two countries need formal agreements to guide cooperation in training, pharmaceutical supplies and medical referrals.
Chisamile commended the Tanzanian authorities for providing various services during the surgical camp.
At least 82 surgeries were conducted at the two hospitals as part of the 783 patients who received various services during the camp.
Malawi has faced shortages of essential medicines in public hospitals, partly due to foreign currency constraints affecting the importation of supplies.
The Central Medical Stores Trust (CMST) has also faced challenges in meeting its obligations to foreign suppliers.
Meanwhile, Minister of Health and Sanitation Madalitso Baloyi said CMST had started receiving medicines from local suppliers following assessments by the ministry, CMST and the Pharmacy and Medicines Regulatory Authority.