News / National
Drug shortages hit Bulawayo hospitals
19 Oct 2018 at 12:05hrs | Views
Health delivery institutions in Bulawayo continue to face shortages of essential drugs despite government prioritising the sector on forex allocation to ease the burden for patients.
Government is prioritising the allocation of foreign currency to the pharmaceutical sector the latest being a $3.2 million package released yesterday (Wednesday), after last week's $6.7million.
This deliberate move has been aimed at ensuring patients do not suffer while at the time coming as a strategy that is imploring players to return all medical drugs to be sold in original prices.
The Clinical Director for Mpilo Central Hospital Dr Solwayo Ngwenya told the ZBC News that his institution is faced with a critical shortage of essential drugs with just a 10 day supply left before they can run out.
"We are in a difficult situation with essential drugs running out fast and at the moment in our stocks we have 10 day supply of essential drugs and this is not a good thing, The situation is worse in the maternity wing so we need urgent relief and we hope that the money allocated to the national pharmaceutical company will help in building up our stocks of drugs so it's a crisis situation," he said.
The situation is said to be equally worrying at the United Bulawayo Hospital and other health facilities in the region.
Mpilo and the UBH are referral hospitals serving patients from three provinces, Matabeleland, Midlands and Masvingo.
Government is prioritising the allocation of foreign currency to the pharmaceutical sector the latest being a $3.2 million package released yesterday (Wednesday), after last week's $6.7million.
This deliberate move has been aimed at ensuring patients do not suffer while at the time coming as a strategy that is imploring players to return all medical drugs to be sold in original prices.
The Clinical Director for Mpilo Central Hospital Dr Solwayo Ngwenya told the ZBC News that his institution is faced with a critical shortage of essential drugs with just a 10 day supply left before they can run out.
"We are in a difficult situation with essential drugs running out fast and at the moment in our stocks we have 10 day supply of essential drugs and this is not a good thing, The situation is worse in the maternity wing so we need urgent relief and we hope that the money allocated to the national pharmaceutical company will help in building up our stocks of drugs so it's a crisis situation," he said.
The situation is said to be equally worrying at the United Bulawayo Hospital and other health facilities in the region.
Mpilo and the UBH are referral hospitals serving patients from three provinces, Matabeleland, Midlands and Masvingo.
Source - zbc
