News / National
Call to monitor hospital drug stocks
27 Mar 2019 at 23:08hrs | Views
GOVERNMENT is working on getting access to records of drugs in pharmacies and public hospitals to ensure transparency in drug delivery, Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo has said.
According to a video posted on Twitter by the ministry, speaking during his tour of health facilities in Manicaland province to assess the situation of Cyclone Idai victims on Tuesday, Dr Moyo said security of medicines in public hospitals was key.
"Of all the issues in the health sector, issues of security of medicines are one of the key areas which we are concerned about. We have encouraged all the heads of clinics and hospitals to make sure that there is adequate security around drugs," he said.
Dr Moyo said pharmacies should keep a record of drugs that come in and go out for transparency and accountability.
He said this development will ensure that the ministry keeps a record of drugs in stock to avoid a situation where they are "suddenly hit by drug shortages".
"At the pharmacy side, we have asked the pharmacists to make sure they record all the medicines as they come in or go out. This helps us to know the quantities of drugs in stock so that when a hospital is running out of drugs, we quickly order new stock to avoid a situation where we suddenly run out of drugs," he said.
The Health and Child Care Minister said in future there is a need to institute computerised system so that the ministry has a register of all drugs in stock.
"We have already implemented this system in Mashonaland East and we want to bring it here in Manicaland," he said.
Dr Moyo said Government wants to ensure there is adequate health cover in Cyclone Idai- affected areas.
"We want to make sure that everybody is well looked after. We have met all the medical teams on the ground and agreed that we should work together and everything should be coordinated through the provincial medical director, who is also on the ground," he said.
Dr Moyo said his ministry was working on preventing an outbreak of water-borne diseases especially in Chimanimani and Chipinge which are the worst affected areas.
"We fear outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea hence we are putting in place measures to ensure adequate supplies of clean water in affected areas," he said. Dr Moyo said his Ministry had secured water purification tablets to be used by those who do not have safe and clean water supplies.
According to a video posted on Twitter by the ministry, speaking during his tour of health facilities in Manicaland province to assess the situation of Cyclone Idai victims on Tuesday, Dr Moyo said security of medicines in public hospitals was key.
"Of all the issues in the health sector, issues of security of medicines are one of the key areas which we are concerned about. We have encouraged all the heads of clinics and hospitals to make sure that there is adequate security around drugs," he said.
Dr Moyo said pharmacies should keep a record of drugs that come in and go out for transparency and accountability.
He said this development will ensure that the ministry keeps a record of drugs in stock to avoid a situation where they are "suddenly hit by drug shortages".
"At the pharmacy side, we have asked the pharmacists to make sure they record all the medicines as they come in or go out. This helps us to know the quantities of drugs in stock so that when a hospital is running out of drugs, we quickly order new stock to avoid a situation where we suddenly run out of drugs," he said.
"We have already implemented this system in Mashonaland East and we want to bring it here in Manicaland," he said.
Dr Moyo said Government wants to ensure there is adequate health cover in Cyclone Idai- affected areas.
"We want to make sure that everybody is well looked after. We have met all the medical teams on the ground and agreed that we should work together and everything should be coordinated through the provincial medical director, who is also on the ground," he said.
Dr Moyo said his ministry was working on preventing an outbreak of water-borne diseases especially in Chimanimani and Chipinge which are the worst affected areas.
"We fear outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea hence we are putting in place measures to ensure adequate supplies of clean water in affected areas," he said. Dr Moyo said his Ministry had secured water purification tablets to be used by those who do not have safe and clean water supplies.
Source - the herald
