Dodoma. The Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA) plans to open six additional offices this year as part of efforts to strengthen surveillance against unregistered medicines and medical devices entering the market.
TMDA Director General Dr Adam Fimbo said the expansion was intended to address gaps in regulatory coverage, particularly as illegal medicines continue to enter the country and the sale and promotion of pharmaceutical products through social media platforms become increasingly challenging to control.
Speaking on Monday, October 19, 2026, during the inauguration of the Ministry of Health Advisory Board for TMDA, Dr Fimbo said the authority’s existing eight zonal offices were insufficient to provide the desired level of oversight across the country.
“We want to expand our offices so that we can reach the regional level. Our five-year strategic plan includes opening regional offices to widen the scope of our regulatory activities,” he said.
The expansion is expected to strengthen the authority’s ability to identify unregistered products, trace those responsible for bringing them into the market and take legal action against offenders.
Dr Fimbo said enforcing regulations against illegal medicines remained challenging because authorities had to identify suppliers, investigate offences and pursue cases through the courts.
He also identified social media as an emerging challenge, with platforms increasingly being used to advertise and sell medicines outside established regulatory channels.
TMDA is responsible for regulating the quality, safety and effectiveness of medicines, medical devices, in-vitro diagnostics, blood and blood products, as well as tobacco products.
Despite these challenges, Dr Fimbo said the authority had made progress in strengthening regulatory systems, improving laboratory infrastructure, increasing revenue and supporting the growth of local pharmaceutical manufacturing.
He said TMDA had attained the World Health Organisation’s Maturity Level Three in medicines and medical devices regulation, while its laboratories in Dodoma, Dar es Salaam and Mwanza met international standards.
The authority also serves as a centre of excellence for vaccine quality regulation in Africa, reflecting progress in building regulatory systems that meet international requirements.
Dr Fimbo said infrastructure development had also advanced, with construction of the authority’s headquarters nearing completion and an incineration facility in Nala, Dodoma, already in operation.
The facility is used to destroy counterfeit, substandard and otherwise unsuitable products seized from the market, helping prevent their re-entry into the supply chain.
The achievements were recorded during the tenure of the outgoing advisory board, whose three-year term ended in August 2026.
Dr Fimbo said the authority’s internally generated revenue had increased from about TZS40 billion to TZS47 billion during the previous board’s tenure, while the number of pharmaceutical manufacturing industries under its oversight rose from 12 to 19.
TMDA also paid TZS21 billion in dividends to the Government and continued to receive clean audit opinions from the Controller and Auditor General (CAG).
The director general said the achievements demonstrated progress in institutional management and financial accountability, while the expansion of local manufacturing offered opportunities to strengthen domestic production of medicines.
However, he said the authority needed stronger regulatory coverage to ensure that the growth of the pharmaceutical market did not create additional opportunities for unregistered or poor-quality products.
Dr Fimbo also called for changes to the legal framework governing government agencies to allow an increase in the number of advisory board members.
He said the current membership was too small to support the formation of committees with sufficient members and a broad range of expertise, potentially limiting the depth of discussions on important strategic and operational issues.
The authority had submitted proposals seeking amendments to the Government Agencies Act to increase board membership, he said.
The newly inaugurated board is chaired by Dr Seif Rashid, who is expected to work with TMDA management to strengthen the institution’s oversight and strategic direction.
Dr Fimbo pledged the management’s cooperation with the new board, saying the authority’s primary responsibility remained protecting public health by ensuring that medicines and medical devices available in Tanzania were safe, effective and of the required quality.
TMDA was established in 2003 as the Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA). It became TMDA in 2019 following the transfer of food and cosmetics regulatory responsibilities to the Tanzania Bureau of Standards.
The authority’s work is governed by the Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Act and the legal framework governing government agencies.