Author: BERNARD LUGONGO
AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE government has instructed all District and Regional Hospitals to have active Customer Service Centres in their institutions, a move that would guarantee proper customer services in public.
While launching fourth edition of the customer service charter for the Tanzania Medicines and Medical Device Authority (TMDA), in Dar es Salaam, yesterday, Chief Medical Officer, Prof Abel Makubi said hospitals should have such centres and customer service charter to improve their customer services.
“Lack of customer service centres is one of the differences between public and private hospitals. The hospitals should have customer service charter to have commitment,” noted Prof Makubi, while directing the Regional and District Medical Officers to ensure that such institutions launch them effectively.
Following the launch of the TMDA new charter yesterday, the authority would now reduce the number of days taken to register drugs and medical devices by 60 days in efforts meant to improve services provision and facilitate the country’s industrialization.
The charter contains the commitment of the TMDA to its customers, among others, it has vowed to reduce the number of days for registering imported drugs and medical devices from 240 days to 180 and from 120 days to 60 for locally made products.
Chief Medical Officer Prof Abel Makubi graced the launch of the charter, coming four years after the third edition published in 2016.
When speaking at the launch ceremony yesterday, Prof Makubi, who represented Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Prof Mabula Mchembe, commended the TMDA for the move.
TMDA Acting Director General Adam Fimbo said the authority has come up with the new charter since many issues have happened in the past four years that propelled the review of the 2016 charter.
Some issues, he said, included the government’s industrialization agenda, authority’s reforms in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and changing of duties of the authority after changing its name from being called Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA).
Mr Fimbo said when preparing the new charter stakeholders were consulted on their views, where many of them proposed reduction in the number of days for registrations.
However, he promised that the TMDA would allocate enough human and financial resources for them so that they effectively implement the charter.
On his part, chairman of TMDA advisory board, Eric Shitindi, pledged that the board will support also the authority to ensure that it fulfills commitments enshrined in the charter.
