Home | News | OVER E250 000 DRUGS GO MISSING AT RFM

OVER E250 000 DRUGS GO MISSING AT RFM

05/10/2022 08:55:00 Stanley Khumalo

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MANZINI – While there is a public outcry regarding the shortage of drugs in the country’s health facilities, at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital, medical drugs worth over E250 000 have gone missing.

This publication has learnt from a source within the senior management of the Eswatini Nazarene Health Institutions (ENHI) that there were medical drugs that had gone missing. The source at ENHI said the drugs were worth over E250 000. It was gathered that the drugs were in fact received and recorded at the institutions storeroom. The source informed this publication that this was discovered during the recent audit by the office of the Auditor General, Timothy Matsebula. It is worth noting that the genesis of Matsebula’s investigation was the shortage of medical supplies and drugs, which has been a constant challenge in the public health sector in the kingdom for time immemorial, despite interventions by the Ministry of Health to strengthen its stock controls.

Concerns

This constant issue has seen health practitioners petitioning government in various instances, wherein they raised their concerns and outlined that, among other things, they were now issuing prescription letters instead of affording the citizenry adequate care, as per their oath of service. Matsebula, in the Consolidated Government Accounts of the Kingdom of Eswatini for the financial year ended March 31, 2021, reported that he had noted that there was missing stock, worth E128 452.22, reported as a difference between Central Medical Stores (CMS) physical count and the government accounting system balance. Meanwhile, the impeccable source within the ENHI, said during the audit, they discovered that there was stock that was released from the storeroom to the dispensary; however, this stock was not accounted for at its destination.

The source said the ‘disappearance’ of the drugs was caused by some missing stock cards which had the transactions. The senior member of staff said: “This is a gap that was identified and addressed after the audit.” Another source within the institution said following the discovery of the missing stock, the management of the institution would take to task those who had not performed according to their job descriptions. The sources could not rule out elements of theft by some personnel and said management was at advanced stages of introducing the electronic dispensary module, which would become a secondary verification tool for inventory held within the dispensary as and when required.

Meanwhile, a source within the Stores department, said health facilities needed to fill and also update stock cards whenever a transaction occurred. The source said this was part of the regulations that assisted in maintaining the inventory in health facilities. Failure to do so, the source said, was an indication of weakness in internal control on accounting for the stock in and out of the storeroom or warehouse. It is worth noting that this publication on June 2, 2022, reported that there were over 28 drugs on stock-out at the RFM Hospital. The shortage of medication was said to be rife at the RFM Hospital and had seen healthcare workers issuing prescription letters to patients so they could get the pharmaceuticals at retail pharmacies.

Confirmed

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) ENHI, Benjamin Simelane, confirmed knowledge of the unaccounted for drugs. However, Simelane referred further questions to the Ministry of Health, as he said it was working on the issue. He had been informed that this publication had gathered that there were instances wherein drugs were released from the storeroom but did not ‘reach’ the dispensary. Simelane was further informed that sources within the ENHI had said this had happened at RFM and the drugs had a cumulative value of over E250 000. He had been sought for answers on whether the management had reported this to the Ministry of Health and how the hospital delt with such a challenge. Simelane was also informed that there were also claims that there were drugs that expired before they were dispatched. He was asked where these drugs were kept and how did the hospital ensure that they were not dispersed to the public.

Also, the CEO was sought for comment following that there were claims that there were drugs that had been on stock-out for over a year. He was asked how many they were and how was the hospital dealing with the shortage. Subsequent to Simelane referring the questionnaire to the Ministry of Health, Principal Secretary (PS) in the ministry, Dr Simon Zwane, was informed that there were claims from sources that there were drugs that were not accounted for in certain hospitals. The stock, Dr Zwane was told, was said to have been delivered by the ministry through the Central Medical Stores (CMS) to the health facilities; however, it could not be tracked after being dispatched from the health facilities storerooms. In light of this, he was sought for assistance in understanding the following: Has the ministry ever evaluated medical drugs that are unaccounted for? If yes, what is the value of the stock? If not, how is the stock monitored to ensure it is not stolen?

Questionnaire

By the time this article was compiled, Dr Zwane was yet to respond to the questionnaire. Worth noting is that in May 2022, this publication reported that three public health facilities were piloting the logistics management information system (LMIS) as means to avert stock-out of medical supplies. At the time, Dr Zwane said the Ministry of Health, through financing from the Global Fund, was piloting the LMIS programme in three health facilities, namely; Pigg’s Peak Government Hospital, Dvokolwako Health Centre and Lobamba Clinic. The LMIS programme is a system that seeks to ensure that communication between the CMS and health facilities is fluid. Dr Zwane said ideally, the CMS should be able to have visibility of most of the health facilities so as to know at any given time how the stock situation was.

He said the same ought to be the case with healthcare facilities, such that they were also able to know the stock status of the CMS. Dr Zwane said the pilot project was set to assist government in closing the gaps. The PS said the ministry’s plan was to implement the LMIS in 22 other facilities. He said the LMIS would interface with the client management information system (CMIS), which would hopefully help them reduce unnecessary over and repeated prescription per patient. Dr Zwane also acknowledged that inconsistent supply of fuel was a major challenge contributing to shortages in health facilities. He said an attempt to have fuel bowsers at the CMS were unsuccessful.