22 Aug 2022

Botswana Medical Regulatory Authority (BoMRA) outgoing chairperson, Mr Duncan Thela says his board was able to deliver on the organisation’s objective by navigating between operational, management as well as oversight and guidance issues because of the governance tools that were in place.

Speaking at a farewell ceremony for the founding board of governors on Friday, Mr Thela said given the diversity within the board and the organisation, management of cultural the diversity was itself a challenge. 

However, he said because of their focus on organisational objectives and compliance with governance processes and structures, they were able to tackle the challenges.

He applauded his team for focusing on the objectives and goals of the organisation, saying it was because of them that Botswana Medical Regulatory Authority was a reputable and functional organisation. 

He said some of their achievements included developing and implementing a technical and organisational strategy and continuous reporting as well as review of the strategy. 

“This led to ISO 9001 accreditation and recognition of Botswana Medical Regulatory Authority as a regulator of note,” Mr Thela said.

He further noted the establishment and implementation of the governance structures of the board and committees, including technical committees. 

This, Mr Thela said, facilitated the operations, oversight and guidance of the organisation. 

“A major governance achievement was the signing of shareholder compact, an instrument that guides the interactions between Botswana Medical Regulatory Authority  and the shareholder,” stated Mr Thela.

The outgoing BoMRA chairperson noted that they were confronted with the challenge of COVID-19 just after the organisation was established in 2018, and that they needed to quickly give COVID-19 vaccines emergency use authorisation soon as they were introduced. 

Mr Thela said it was a challenging task given the impact of the pandemic on Batswana. 

“A combination of normal medicine registration process and a risk based assessment of vaccine dossiers had to be adopted in the race against time,” he said.

He said their mandate of timely facilitating access from a regulatory perspective to quality, safe and efficacious medical products came into focus from a public health and political perspective. 

“The organisation was under tremendous pressure to expedite the urgent use authorisation of the vaccines,” noted Mr Thela.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health, Ms Grace Muzila applauded the outgoing board, saying they had set systems that would be used for the long haul. 

She also commended the board for displaying reputable organisational management that was recognised across the world during the pandemic and on how they approached the vaccination roll-out.

A new board member representative, Dr Lorato Mangadi also commended the outgoing board’s commitment and dedication. 

She said her team was grateful for the legacy the outgoing board left. 

“The belief they had in the BoMRA project was amazing,” Dr Mangadi said. 

She applauded them for being pioneers, saying it was not easy to put in place structures, systems, processes, controls and the resources needed.

She also appreciated the efforts made by the founding board over the years. 

“Looking at the journey that BoMRA has taken up to now and the milestones achieved in a short period of time, it is clear that the leadership and governance they had provided for BoMRA was impactful,” Dr Mangadi noted. 

She said the incoming board of governors was privileged to come in after the outgoing team, which made their easy. Ends