ZAMBIA Medicines Regulatory Authority (ZAMRA) Public Relations Officer Ludovic Mwape says a number of their staff lost family members due to COVID-19 which negatively affected the Authority’s operations in terms of service delivery.

In an interview, Mwape said the emergence of COVID-19 disrupted most planned activities as they could not be implemented due to restrictions.

He, however, said various electronic communication options were employed to sustain operations.

“The emergence of COVID-19 had a negative impact on the operations of the Authority as a number of planned activities could not be adequately implemented due to the restrictions that were effected to mitigate the spread of the pandemic. These include; inspections of local premises such as retail, wholesale hospital and manufacturing facilities, good manufacturing practice (GMP) Inspections of foreign-based manufacturers, good clinical practice of clinical trial sites and physical community sensitisations in public places, exhibitions and attendance at traditional ceremonies could not be done,” said Mwape.

“However, the COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity for use of other forms of communication with our stakeholders through electronic means such as radio and TV, virtual meetings and use of social media engagements. At staff level, most of our staff were infected with COVID-19 and a number lost their loved ones in their families which negatively affected the operations of the Authority in service delivery.”