19 More HoneyBee Products Recalled

The Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority (ZAMRA) has directed disgraced medical providers HoneyBee Pharmacy to recall 19 of its products from the market, including pregnancy tests and vaginal inserts. 

In a letter dated 28 January, ZAMRA acting director general Bonaventure Chilende has instructed HoneyBee to remove the defective products within 14 days. 

It comes after a parliamentary inquiry last month found that HoneyBee had provided health care facilities with dozens of pieces of defective medical equipment, including mouldy packets of paracetamol and leaky latex gloves and condoms.

In June 2020, HoneyBee won a government contract worth $17 million to provide the health kits, despite not even being a registered company at the time. 

The revelation led to the sacking of former health minister Dr Chitalu Chilufya, after Transparency International Zambia accused the country’s leadership of being “conspicuously absent” in the scandal.

Speaking on the latest product recalls, opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema accused the government of “systematically killing its own citizens”.

He lamented that the scandal would likely pass by unresolved, “like the 48 houses, the fire trucks, the shooting and gassing of innocent citizens” and many other crimes.