Okay Health Minister, we get it, but ....

We get it that this drug shortage problem in hospitals is a global phenomenon – that even in the US, Asia, Australia and the UK they have been talking about their concerns over sustained pressures on medicines supply.

We get it. We also get it that even in our neighbouring South Africa they have been crying about the disrupted supplies of some anti-retroviral and hypertension drugs across their public medical facilities. We get it. We get it too, mister Health Minister, that the government is working around the clock to make medicines available but somewhere in between there are people who are not doing their job to ensure people get services. We get it you know. We get it again, that the ever self-serving politicians will hype this crisis to score cheap political points. We get it that there are those who feel the crisis began when a company associated with a president’s relative entered the medicine supply chain and that the company may not be competent to do the job as was done by companies before it. Everyone has a theory, people listen to all, support and defend. We get all that. We get it mister minister that the critical medications have arrived and that they are being distributed on a needs basis. But what does it help we talk and talk on television, over radio and social media when on the ground the medical stuff has no clue what is going on and the patients continue to suffer? We get it that drug shortages represent a major challenge for all stakeholders involved in the process of providing medication, including manufacturers, supply chains, healthcare providers and patients. It is the latter group we should be giving priority in all our bickering over this mess. They don’t care about global supply politics and the cheap politicking we engage in locally. Two days after your promises that the situation is now under control mister minister, we still have several hospitals and clinics across the country crying of empty storerooms and patients being told to proceed to private pharmacies to buy medication. Nurses and doctors as of now, are still frustrated that the drugs you have been talking about have not reached them. We gather too, that even as you have said they should place orders, it takes a week or more to process the orders and Central Medical Stores works on a first come first served basis, where a clinic in Shoshong might not get 100 units of paracetamol on Monday afternoon because another clinic in Tutume ordered 1000 units on Monday morning. A granny in Seolwane right now needs medications for hypertension and diabetes – still there is nothing. A nearby private pharmacy is 60kilometres away in Palapye. So, apart from just managing this supply chain efficiently, do we even have measures in place to avoid this crisis recurring?