By Omar Bah
The Medicines Control Agency (MCA) announced the closure of Innovarx Global Health from 2 February 2024, for “serious noncompliance issues,” but its owner Dr Ismail Badjie said he was being “unfairly” targeted.
According to the MCA, during an inspection on 1 February 2024, Dr Ismail Badjie, the CEO, obstructed MCA inspectors, leading to police involvement. The MCA alleged that Dr Badjie refused to allow the confiscation of “illegally imported medicines.”
“In the presence of police officers, Dr Ismail Badjie refused to allow MCA inspectors to confiscate medicines that were neither registered nor listed with MCA and had been illegally imported into The Gambia without MCA approval. Contrary to the claimed origin in the United States of America, most of these smuggled medicines were manufactured in India, China, and Taiwan, and none were tested before being dispensed to the general public, posing a potential danger. The MCA Inspectors also informed Dr Badjie that they were going to close down his premises, and he was instructed to report to the MCA Office, which he refused to comply with,” the MCA added.
According to the MCA, their inspectors at Innovarx were constantly harassed and obstructed by Dr Badjie, who took photos and videos of them without their consent and threatened to upload and post them on various social media platforms.
“Dr Badjie indeed carried out his threat by posting the photos and videos of our inspectors on various social media platforms, making false allegations against MCA. The management of MCA would like to make it clear to Dr Badjie and his surrogates that MCA cannot be intimidated by their social media ramblings.
The MCA inspectors, along with three police officers, including the station officer of Bakau Police Station, returned to Innovarx the following day, 2 February, to advise Dr Badjie to comply with MCA in order to avoid the matter being escalated. He had no choice but to allow MCA to proceed, resulting in the closure of Innovarx and the seizure of all illegally imported medicines deemed by the law to be substandard and falsified for the interest of public safety,” it added.
The MCA further alleged that numerous expired medicines were also found on the shelves within the dispensary where patients are served at Innovarx.
“Dr Badjie has also been consistently violating the law by illegally advertising his medicines without approval from MCA, despite previous warnings from MCA. MCA advises the general public to refrain from seeking medical and pharmaceutical services from Innovarx until further notice. MCA will continue to do its best to ensure the quality, safety, and efficacy of all medicines and related products in the Gambian market,” the statement signed by MCA executive director, Essa Marenah read.
Reaction
Reacting to the closure in a statement obtained by The Standard, Dr Badjie said the order was based on arbitrary and exorbitant administrative penalty fees targeting healthcare imports, now imposed retroactively. “As per obscure new requirements, each US-sourced medicine warrants recurring annual fees of over US$10,000 for Innovarx’s 400+ medicines inventory maintained solely to serve patients. Such paralysing surprise interventions disrupting vital healthcare access occurred only at Innovarx, point to disproportionate, targeted censure of a single company.
“As an entrepreneur seeking to expand healthcare access, I constantly grapple with barriers inhibiting progress for startups improving affordability and quality. Recently my company faced severe, likely malicious regulatory actions aiming to choke operations using minor technicalities… Through weaponisation of bureaucracy and selective rule enforcement, they derail more efficient models benefiting underserved communities. Extorting ambiguous paperwork requirements or exaggerated fees to price out challengers has thwarted pioneers for decades,” he said.
He argued that innovation cannot thrive when playing fields tilt sharply. “As we rebuild following years of stagnation, The Gambia must shed decaying business practices that serve the connected few at the expense of mass welfare. All sectors need unified standards applied evenly, not weaponised against threatening competition…” he noted.
