RELIEF AS MEDICAL SUPPLIES DELIVERED TO HOSPITALS

MBABANE – There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for the health sector as medical supplies have been delivered to some hospitals.

Things seemed to be back to normal at the Mbabane Government Hospital yesterday afternoon as patients were found in queues for medication at the dispensary section. They all had prescriptions in hand waiting for their turn to get drugs from the pharmacists.
The patients were randomly asked whether they had received all the medication the doctors had prescribed for them. To what may surprise many, every single patient responded to the positive. However, they were not willing to reveal what they had been diagnosed with and the treatment they had received.

Some of the patients interviewed appeared to be in the dark about any shortage of medication at the government hospital, while others acknowledged that they had heard that there was a problem.
Recently, government faced a challenge of shortage of medical supplies, which resulted in many people being turned back without getting any medication.
Parliament ordered Cabinet to stop other projects and direct funds towards settling debts with medical suppliers. The august House further ruled that the ministry of Health rectify the situation before the end of last week.
Dr Velephi Okello, the Deputy Director of Health, confirmed that medication had been delivered to some health institutions.

Okello said hospitals were the first to benefit from the distribution and clinics would soon follow.
She did not comment on the issue of payment of suppliers but referred all questions to the principal secretary, whom she said was the controlling officer.
“We have started distributing medical supplies from the Central Government Stores to hospitals and we will soon be making deliveries to clinics,” said Dr Okello.
She admitted that not all medical drugs were delivered but was hopeful that the deliveries made would aid the current situation.

Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Paul Dlamini said to his knowledge, the issue of shortage of medical supplies had been deliberated upon and the ministry had to provide the supplies by the end of last week. The DPM said he was yet to check on the latest status from the ministry.

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