Home | News | HEALTH CRISIS: MINISTRY TO SOURCE DRUGS THROUGH EMERGENCY PROCESS

HEALTH CRISIS: MINISTRY TO SOURCE DRUGS THROUGH EMERGENCY PROCESS

28/11/2023 17:26:00 Stanley Khumalo

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MANZINI – The Ministry of Health will now source drugs and other supplies through an emergency procurement process.

This follows the stock-outs of various medical drugs and supplies in different hospitals. This means that the ministry will not use the normal procurement procedure that often takes long.
In fact, it was stated that the Ministry of Health has an emergency list prioritised for an emergency procurement process, following medical drugs and pharmaceutical supplies shortage in public hospitals.

Procurement

This was said by the Deputy Dirtector of Health Services, Dr Bongiwe Malinga, yesterday. The deputy director said the ministry had received lists of items that were out of stock from various public health facilities and had compiled them into the crisis list for an emergency procurement process. Dr Malinga said heading the team responsible for the emergency procurement was the Minister of Health Mduduzi Matsebula and the Principal Secretary (PS), Khanya Mabuza. This intervention by the ministry follows a lengthy period where the public had reported that, instead of being accorded medical drugs in public health facilities, they were offered prescriptions so they could procure the medication from retail pharmacies. This resulted in an investigation by this publication, which uncovered that one room flats were used as retail pharmacies while other retail pharmacists, lacked qualifications to issue out medical drugs.

Investigation

The investigation by this publication resulted in the Ministry of Finance, through the Office of the Auditor General (AG), Timothy Matsebula, instituting a forensic investigation into the shortage of medical drugs and pharmaceutical supplies in public health facilities. While these investigations have ensued, upon assuming office as minister, Matsebula has visited various health facilities, which are critical in the health sector. In his visits, the minister discovered that the Central Medical Stores (CMS) electronically monitored drugs, both in its warehouse and when in-transit, but there was a case where employees tried to cover a camera in a car with an object. On the other hand, this publication established that over 22 medical drugs were reportedly on stock-out at the Mankayane Government Hospital. According to sources, there has been a challenge with medication at the hospital as at some point, the admission of women in labour had to be suspended due to the shortage of medication.

The sources said some of the items which were in stock-out had been supplied; however, when they were made available other medical drugs became were exhausted as well. The sources claimed at that some of the medication which was on stock out included betadine which works on a broad range of germs and microbes that can that can cause infections, examination gloves, surgical gloves, abdominal swabs, gauze, primapore, bandages, elastoplasts, colostomy bags and sterilizing tapes, among others.

Expressed

The sources expressed fear that the shortage of medication could lead to certain departments failing to render their services as the items which were on stock-out were critical. The shortage of the medical drugs and pharmaceutical supplies at the public health facility is not isolated as there are a high number of government health facilities which have been reported to be experiencing challenges. Recently, this publication reported that patients were turned back as there were no doctors at the Mbabane Government Hospital’s outpatient department (OPD). To this, the deputy director of health services said: “The minister and PS are overseeing this process and they have tasked the teams working on the process to prioritise.”
Dr Malinga said the ministry was putting all necessary efforts to mitigate the issue of drugs and consumables shortage. She said this would not improve over night, as the supply chain processes were long and involved other stakeholders outside the ministry.

On the other hand, the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) Secretary General (SG), Mayibongwe Masangane, said their organisation was urging government to deal with the issue of drug shortage. Masangane said failure to deal with it would result in the frustration of patients. Last week, this publication reported that the minister of Health revealed that in the spirit of hitting the ground running as commanded by His Majesty King Mswati III, he checked the level of available stock drugs across the country and shockingly, it stood at 46 per cent, much to his dismay.

Matsebula’s main worry was that the 46 per cent stock level of drugs was reflecting that people were still not getting the prescribed medicines, at least not in totallity, and that was enough to conclude that the country was still losing lives, owing to the situation. Matsebula, whose passion for health issues was magnified by the motions he moved in the 11th Parliament, expressed great concern on the issue, revealing that government needed to strengthen its efforts in restoring confidence in the country’s public health institutions. Matsebula mentioned that the ministry ought to come up with short-term practical solutions to alleviate the health crisis in the country. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health, in the past five years, has been awarded E12.66 billion trough the government budget.

Recommendation

The need for more financial allocation to the Ministry of Health was reportedly a recommendation made by the 11th Parliament Cabinet sub-committee which was established in June 2023. The sub-committee had comprised of four ministers, who were Neal Rijkenberg, (ex-minister) Jabulani ‘Buy Cash’ Mabuza,(ex-minister) Lizzie Nkosi and Manqoba Khumalo. At the backdrop of this recommendation, the ministry has had E12.66 billion. In these five years, the ministry accumutively overspent with E327 471 225. This was in three separate financial years which are 2018/19 where the over expenditure was recorded as E91.3 million while in the 2020/21 financial year, the ministry recorded another over expenditure of E121.88 million while in the 2021/22 financial year there was E114.33 million. Meanwhile, within the same period, the ministry under spent in three instances which tallies E144 138 979. In the 2019/20 financial year, the ministry under spent E137.1 million while in the 2022/23 financial year, it under spent with E7.04 million.