The Botswana Medicines Regulatory Authority (BoMRA) is privileged to host a high-level delegation from the Kingdom of Lesotho, led by the Honorable Minister of Health, Honourable Mamokete Ntšekhe, for a strategic benchmarking exercise.
When welcoming the Honourable Minister and her delegation, Botswana Medicines Regulatory Authority BoMRA Ag. Chief Regulatory officer Dr, Parthasarathi Gurumurthy provided an overview of the authority’s institutional journey.
He highlighted that BoMRA’s transformation from its establishment into a fully-fledged and functional medicines regulatory authority was achieved within a relatively short period, “evolving a from a statutory framework to full regulator in udder a decade.He acknowledged the critical role of technical support from the World Health Organization Botswana through its first five-year strategy in building a stable, integrated, fully operational national medicines regulatory system from the ground up.
In her remarks, Honourable Minister Mamokete Ntšekhe said that the visit forms part of Lesotho’s efforts to establish the Lesotho Medicines Regulatory Authority (LeMeRA) and strengthen oversight of medical products. She noted that Parliament enacted the Lesotho Medicines and Medical Devices Control Authority Act, 2023 (Act No. 6 of 2023), which marked a key milestone towards the establishment of a National Regulatory Authority,now progressing towards operationalisation.The Minister noted that Botswana was selected for this benchmarking exercise due to similarities in national context and the relevance of BoMRA’s regulatory model in informing Lesotho’s National Regulatory Authority development journey.
As part of the programme, the delegation is undertaking targeted site visits across key regulatory functions, including the BoMRA Laboratory , one of the Authority’s critical technical pillars.The laboratory provides scientific testing of medical product samples, ensuring compliance with established standards of quality, safety, and efficacy.BoMRA’s laboratory operates in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025 standards and is part of regional and international laboratory networks.