Machinery used to test the quality of condoms released onto the Zimbabwean market has outlived its lifespan and no longer has capacity to produce accurate results, Parliament heard yesterday.
Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) director-general Gugu Mahlangu told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Child and Health Welfare that they were using outdated machinery and their results were no longer accurate.
The committee, chaired by Glen View North MP Fani Munengami, toured the MCAZ laboratory in Harare to familiarise with its operations and appreciate the challenges it was facing.
“We are using equipment as old as 15 years here in the medical device unit and it is old technology,” Mahlangu said.
“We are supposed to test 6-8 sample batches of condoms with these air inflators, but at the end we only test three batches because of the backward technology.”
Mahlangu pleaded with Treasury to review the Aids Levy and channel the additional funds towards re-equipping MCAZ.
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However, Kadoma Central MP Editor Matamisa, who is also a member of the committee, ruled out an upward review of the Aids Levy arguing the move would not achieve the desired results since the country’s formal employment sector was shrinking.
Instead, Munengami said there was need for urgent government intervention to avoid the release of sub-standard condoms onto the market.