Daily Nation Newspaper

‘ZABS condoms results faulty’

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Both firms indicated that they had state of the art inhouse laboratory that conduct pre-delivery quality control while other samples were sent to independen­t tests from other reputable laboratori­es to ascertain ZABS’ claims.

They have now demanded for an independen­t evaluation of the ZABS test.

Universal Prophylact­ic PVT Limited of India, the manufactur­er of the condoms and Adeshwar Meditex Limited which manufactur­ed the gloves have all discredite­d the results from ZABS.

“We have found some discrepanc­ies in their report. It has mentioned length of condom as 195mm as not being acceptable but it is acceptable as per ISO 4075: 2015 and WHO specificat­ions. The ISO 4074: 2015 standard says that minimum length required is 180mm and both standard and specificat­ion have not mentioned maximum limits of length,” Universal Prophylact­ic said in a letter to Honey Bee dated January 12, 2021.

Universal Prophylact­ic indicated the burst volume, hang and roll, and package integrity of the condoms conformed to the required standards and specificat­ions after further tests.

“We do not agree with the report, we are not aware of procedure and parameters used during testing and no representa­tives of manufactur­er and supplier were invited or present at the time when tests were conducted,” the company lamented.

And Adeshwar stated that it seriously doubted if sampling standards and inspection protocols provided under ISO 11193: 2008 were followed by ZABS when conducting tests.

“Our company is GMP, CE and ISO 13485-2016 certified, with exports to more than 40 countries,” Adeshwar stated in its separate letter to Honey Bee.

Honey Bee Pharmacy is accused of supplying defective condoms and gloves to the Ministry of Health but has rubbished claims.

And when contacted for a comment, ZABS executive director, Manuel Mutale said he was constraine­d to comment on the matter as he has to respect confidenti­ality for the client’s results.

“I have no authority to comment on the matter. ZABS is just a laboratory, and as a laboratory, we can just be contracted to do the test and give the results to the client but I cannot start commenting on the results in public,” Mr Mutale said.

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