Develop own drugs, says Museveni
Jun 04, 2020
MATUGGA, WAKISO DISTRICT - President Yoweri Museveni has called on African scientists to learn how to take care of themselves by developing their own drugs saying Europeans have neglected diseases affecting Africans since diseases like Malaria are no longer prevalent in their countries.
"Africans must fight for their own people. Use the knowledge you have gotten to help solve the backlog of research in medicine," he said.
The President was laying a foundation stone for the construction of the ‘Museveni Laboratory' under the Dei Biopharma pharmaceutical company in Matugga. The state of the art laboratory facility which will be used in pharmaceutical quality control, bio tech research and drug discovery in Uganda, will be run by Ugandans.
Museveni hailed the Managing Director of Dei Biopharma company, Mathias Magoola for his persistent spirit in making sure that the company is established and noted that it was important for Ugandans to practically apply the knowledge that they acquire from school to benefit their countries.
"Despite his struggles, he has the spirit that we the freedom fighters in Luweero had, and that is persistence. You heard that he struggled to get money to help in doing his research for a new drug but he kept on fighting, I want to thank him for the spirit of freedom fighting," he said.
Talking about investment, Museveni said that it was crucial for the country to invest in its own people as opposed to always becoming an obstacle and a barrier to their development through unnecessary bureaucratic tendencies. He thanked Equity Bank for having taken a chance on Magoola and invested in his pharmaceutical project.
The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga who was present at the function, noted that the reason she had put solid support in Dei Biopharma company was because she was a firm believer in Uganda's capacity to develop its own pharmaceutical industries.
The Chairman and Managing Director of Dei Biopharma company, Mr. Mathias Magoola said the objective of the facility was to discover the new compounds for drugs. He said this would be possible because Uganda has 70% in biodiversity, which makes it a breeding ground for identifying new drugs.
Magoola said they aim at producing all types of life saving medicine of high quality and sell them at low costs to Ugandans and globally. He also noted that this would reduce the burden of importing drugs to Uganda, some of which are fake.
Dei Biopharma company in solidarity and support of fighting the deadly corona virus, donated a brand new pick up to be used in the medical sector and 7 tones of posho to feed the vulnerable people.