Addis Ababa, 15 February 2022 (ECA) - Ms. Jane Karonga, UN ECA Economic Affairs Officer and Project Lead for the AfCFTA-anchored Pharmaceutical Initiative, led a Fact-finding mission to Dakar, Senegal comprising of Dr. Chiluba Mwila, Technical Operations Manufacturing Consultant and Ms. Fiona Dereige, Senior Communications Specialist to meet with Sahel Gaz Limited from Monday 31st January, 2022 to Tuesday 1st February, 2022.
The purpose of the mission was to enable the ECA Pharma Technical Team to familiarize themselves with Medical gas production capacity of Sahel Gaz Ltd., (a family owned and run Medical Grade Oxygen Manufacturer established in 1991 by the 95 year old patriarch, who although retired still comes into the business from time to time to check on everything) and facilitate the possibility of investment for scaling up production of oxygen on the African continent, critical in mitigating Covid-19 and other critical conditions.
Sahel Gaz was selected to receive technical support from ECA and Partners to scale up production as part of Pharma Initiative process. SAHEL-GAZ is a limited company with a capital of 200,000,000 CFA entirely owned by nationals. Sahel GAZ, has been a specialist in medical gas since 1995. The company is the second-largest supplier of medical oxygen in Senegal, at the forefront of innovation. It designs on-site oxygen production solutions exclusively for hospitals and clinics, suitable for healthcare facilities of all sizes, with oxygen purity of 99.99%.
Sahel-Gaz has tirelessly supported the most important epidemiological center in the fight against COVID-19 in Senegal. In addition, the sustained requests from neighboring countries, facing the same medical emergencies but also the same challenges of supplying medical oxygen, once again confirmed the need for regional coverage of the demand for medical oxygen. It is in this vein that Sahel Gaz has set up a project to install a liquid oxygen production unit with a capacity of 4.4 tpd (tonnes per day) in addition to the oxygen production with a capacity of 4.275 tpd. This will make a total of 8, tpd of oxygen and be a hub for the distribution of medical oxygen in Senegal and in neighboring countries.
Following an introductory meeting and presentation the team were taken on a guided tour of the Sahel Gaz Ltd oxygen production facilities. Ms. Karonga said, “We are very excited for this collaboration because, we can already see what you can do.”
Representing Sahel Gaz, Mr. Mustapha Sene said, “You have a very good approach and we appreciate the time you have taken to come here and walk through with us. This can only be a positive for our organization. It is important for the continent that we see businesses more organized and focused which can only go a long way to growing the business sector. I believe that it is the way to break barriers between government and us, the private business sector.”
Mr Sene indicated that one of the major challenges the company faced was lack of guaranteed market for the medical oxygen and appealed to UNECA to consider putting in place strategies that would break market barriers. “What would really work well for us especially after scaling-up of the production capacity is guaranteed market as it would be pointless if that market is not there” he said.
In response to Mr Sene’s concerns, Ms. Karonga highlighted the advantages of AfCFTA and implored the company to start looking at the bigger market of 1.2 billion people on the continent. “It’s important to note that AfCFTA is now in operation and the pooled procurement arm of the Pharma-Initiative will to some extent provide a market share as long as the company is able to produce enough quantities and of required standard,” she said.
Background on AfCFTA-anchored Pharmaceutical Initiative
As part of its mandate to deliver on Agenda 2063, the SDGs and operationalization of the African Continental Free Area (AfCFTA) by translating ideas into action and in line with its commitment that private sector and public sector dialogue yields tangible outcomes, the ECA went on to conceptualize The AfCFTA-Anchored Pharmaceutical Initiative. Commissioned in 10 selected pilot African countries which include Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, and Sudan, the AfCFTA-anchored Pharma initiative’s key objective is to address socio-economic-related challenges facing African member countries in improving access to maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) essential medicines and commodities and the creation of fiscal space to the African Governments given the emerging trend of rising government debts.
With the implementation of AfCFTA -anchored Pharmaceutical Initiative, Africa will be in a stronger position to address the twin challenges in the pharmaceutical industry: (i) in the short-to-medium term, by using the AfCFTA as platforms for harmonizing national standards as well pool procurement of medicines and pharmaceutical products, and (ii) in the long-term, through increased investment in pharmaceutical production and exports.
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org