It is well-known that the Arab region suffers a significant dearth of capacity in the production of vaccines, medicines and other pharmaceuticals for want of adequate investment in pharma industries. Arab countries do have the capacity, capabilities and natural resources to support the growth of a thriving industry focused on the production of drugs, antibiotics and vaccines.
Regrettably, this wherewithal is not utilised in the required and appropriate manner. Consequently, this industry has declined in the region. Efforts must be made to attract domestic and foreign investments into the region to revive this key sector.
Countries such as India and Iran have made great strides in the development of strong pharmaceutical industries, providing medicines that are sometimes ten times cheaper that imported versions.
The pharmaceutical and healthcare sector in general needs a lot of investment, research and scientific centres to enable Arab society to come up to international standards. But the pandemic is unlikely to drive global investments into the Arab region and meet desperate shortfalls in domestic production capacities in the field of medicines, vaccines, health devices and equipment used in hospitals.
Everyone knows that the Arab region is keen to be self-sufficient in its requirement of pharmaceutical products and vaccines that are important to human life. Those with the technology and expertise avoid sharing the knowhow, but are keen to sell their products at high prices while operating their facilities under their own strict supervision so as to deny the Arab people access to this expertise.
Today, the pandemic highlights the urgent need for private investments and Arab sovereign wealth funds to modernise the healthcare sector through investments in well-equipped hospitals and public health infrastructure, address deficiencies in the sector particularly in the pharma industry and delivery of specialised services.
All countries in the region are keen to prepare a new cadre of professionals specialising in the production of vaccines and pharmaceuticals, and to pay more attention to their domestic production capabilities with the aim of replacing imports. This approach will help generate new job opportunities in this sector, and diversify the industrial and production base of Arab economies away from oil and gas projects.
It is imperative that only high-quality investments and know-how are channelled in to this region, alongside the need to develop skilled Arab workers to work on such projects.
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