The Deputy Managing Director of the Liberia Medicines & Health Products Regulatory Authority (LMHRA), Dr. Patricia Quaye-Freeman, has raised concerns over limited manpower at Liberia’s border points, something, she said is hindering the agency’s ability to regulate pharmaceutical imports effectively.
She made the disclosure on Monday, May 26, 2025, during her appearance on a pharmaceutical talk show program on Prime FM: dubbed ‘Talk with Your Pharmacist’.
According to her smuggling of medicines into the country through border points by Liberians remains a major challenge for the institution, pointing to low budgetary allocation as one of the factors.
"We can do better, and I know we will do better, but we need to build on our manpower. As you may know, the borders are very porous. You may think that we only have Ganta and Bo Waterside as border points, but there are many small border crossings where our own citizens smuggle medicines into Liberia. That’s our major challenge," Dr. Freeman stated.
The LMHRA DMD also highlighted insufficient storage at infrastructure for confiscated medicines and acknowledge the collaboration with law enforcement agencies in ensure smooth inspections and operations.
The Liberia Medicines & Health Products Regulatory Authority (LMHRA) is the statutory arm of the Government with responsibility to ensure all medicines and health products circulating borders of the country are safe and efficacious.
Given LMHRA’s mandate to ensure its efficiency Dr. Freeman underscored the urgent need for increased budgetary support to strengthen border enforcement and regulatory efforts.