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as there is minimal assistance from government. People are dying as some request money to travel to hospital and when they find that there is no medication, they fear seeking more help,” Mbhamali said.

He said the lack of the various services which were essential to the populace was now a national crisis. The legislator bemoaned that monthly, he depleted what ought to be his savings due to the high number of requests that were coming his way.

Intervention

Matsanjeni South Constituency MP Bomber Mamba said the situation was disastrous and needed intervention as it was affecting the citizenry. Mamba said he could not quantify the amount of money he spent through assisting the electorate in his constituency.

He said the shortage of medication was not exaggerated and so was the shortage of police vehicles and or fuel.

MANZINI - “We appreciate the effort by police officers under the current circumstances.”

This was said by the Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer (PICO), Inspector Nosipho Mnguni.

She said the fuel challenge was known to the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) management and it was beyond their control.

She said the issue of fuel and transport was in the portfolio of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.

In the same breath, Mnguni appreciated

It is worth noting that recently, this publication reported that the investigation carried out by the Auditor General, Timothy Matsebula, into the drug and pharmaceutical shortage was completed.

Communications Officer in the Ministry of Finance Setsabile Dlamini said subsequent to the completion of the investigation, the report would go through the necessary forums, which are Cabinet and Parliament. 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.

This constant issue has seen health practitioners petitioning government in various instances wherein they raised their concerns and outlined that, among other things, were now issuing prescription the professionalism exhibited by police officers who contributed towards the refuelling of the organisations vehicles in order to render their service.

She said it was the professional standards they were known for.

Forced

Also, she confirmed that given the shortage of fuel, the police were forced to prioritise emergencies while they dealt with the other cases at a later stage.

The deputy PICO was responding to claims that police officers were constantly raising challenges with the shortage of fuel when sought to letters instead of affording the citizenry adequate care, as per their oath of service.

Discrapancies

It has been gathered that during Matsebula’s audit, a number of discrepancies in the health sector came to the fore.

Impeccable sources relayed to this publication that among the findings were unaccounted-for medical drugs in public health facilities and the Central Medical Stores (CMS) and also a cumulative amount of obsolete stock amounting to over E13 million.

Principal Secretary (PS) in the ministry, Dr Simon Zwane has in a previous interview acknowledged the existence of drug shortages.

The PS at the time said what the ministry did not know was how stock theft occurred in hospitals and clinics.

He said there were controls in place but not necessarily strong enough across all facilities.