TB drug scandal stress tests Boko’s deal

On the very day President Duma Boko signed an agreement to waive Botswana’s post-importation testing of medicines from India, tens of Botswana tuberculosis (TB) patients were suffering treatment failures due to substandard drugs from India.

On 13thNovember President Boko signed an agreement with the visiting President Droupadi Murmu of India, to adopt the Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP) as a reference standard for medicines imported into Botswana, a move that eliminate duplicate post-importation testing and streamlines approval for Indian drugs entering the country.