Honeybee Pharmacy Limited has sued the state, seeking, among other reliefs, an order for the payment of 18 million dollars, for a contract, for the importation, supply and delivery of various medical kits, and medical related products, as requested by the Ministry of Health.

In a statement of claim filed before the Lusaka High Court, the company has cited the Attorney General as the defendant.

The company says, that sometime in November 2019, following a critical shortage of medicines in hospitals, and health centre kits, the company won a tender for the supply of 22,500 medical supplies.

The company further submitted that between January and December 2021, it supplied a total of 5,000 out of 22,500 Health Centre kits, which were all subjected to examination, inspection and verification by the Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority, as well as the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency.

However, despite such undertakings, the company claims that the Ministry of Health has ignored the provisions of the contract, specifically that the terms provide for the payment of the supplied drugs.

By Darius Choonya