Fed up nurses meet over drugs shortage

SITEKI – Fed up!

Nurses from one hospital and two clinics held an impromptu meeting to discuss a way forward following the unresolved drug shortages in healthcare facilities in the country. According to Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) Secretary General (SG) Mayibongwe Masangane, nurses at Mankayane Government Hospital, together with their counterparts at Mkhuzweni Health Centre and Matsanjeni Clinic, met yesterday morning to forge a way forward on the next step regarding the drugs shortage that continued to haunt their duty stations.

Masangane said nurses in these health facilities had reported their concerns that they attended to patients to only give them prescriptions and advised them to buy medication at pharmacies.

The SG said he had also been informed that some of the healthcare facilities had ran out of IV fluids that were used in drips on patients and rendering patients with chronic illnesses being at risk.

“This is a serious issue that has been haunting the healthcare facilities for a long time without it being addressed.

VACCINES THAT ARE STILL NOT AVAILABLE

IPV (polio) vaccine

PCV vaccine

Rotavins vaccine

Pentavalent vaccine

The medication that is still unavailable in health facilities:

Asthavent spray

All kids syrup (antibiotics) Ibuprofen

Myogel

Scopex

Azithromycin and cefaxone injection (for STIs)

Allergex

“Healthcare staff is frustrated as they have to ensure that they give explanation to patients on the shortage of medication. Government has to do something as the situation has become worse,” Masangane said.

The SG said they were yet to get a detailed report on the discussions and deliberations that took place at these healthcare facilities yesterday afternoon. Worth mentioning is that the Siteki Health Centre is also experiencing drugs and staff shortage, according to one nurse who asked for her identity to be concealed by this publication, for fear of victimisation.

“We are under-staffed and also experiencing drugs shortage as some of the nurses were transferred to Emavalela Clinic at Ngcina, which started to operate two months ago. About five nurses are short hence we are now overworked. Drugs shortage is another problem we are facing as a healthcare facility, as we only give out prescriptions to patients to purchase medication in pharmacies,” said the nurse.

Lubombo Regional Health Administrator Happy Tsabedze, said she was held up in a meeting when questioned about the matter.

Tsabedze had been asked to shed light if she was aware that the Siteki Health Centre was short-staffed and experiencing drugs shortage.

Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi advised health facilities’ administrators to communicate their challenges with the Central Medical Stores or directly with the ministry for prompt assistance.

“If they have any queries, they know where they are supposed to report them as nothing yet has reached my attention regarding this matter,” she said.