Burn creams shortage at health institutions
MBABANE – Amid property being torched throughout the country, casualties of burns may experience trouble when seeking medical care.
It has been learnt that public health institutions have reported serious shortages of burn creams and ointments. They also do not have a variety of products for wound healing and other broad spectrum drugs such as Rocephin, which is a prescription medicine used to treat symptoms of many kinds of bacterial infections. It belongs to a class of drugs called Cephalosporins, 3rd Generation.
It can be used to treat a variety of bacterial infections, including severe or life-threatening forms such as E. coli, pneumonia, or meningitis. Ceftriaxone is also used to prevent infection in people having certain types of surgery.
Due to the shortage of burn injury creams, patients would have to resort to the home remedy, the use of salt for wound healing.
However, some medical practitioners said putting salt on a wound can lead to severe complications. They say the sharp and jagged structure of salt crystals may irritate the already sensitive injured area even more. In addition, putting salt on a wound directly will raise the pain.
Dr. Simon Zwane, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health, said he was actually not in a good position to get the details, if the Central Medical Stores (CMS) had the supplies.
“Otherwise CMS has resumed deliveries at health facilities (for available commodities),” Dr. Zwane said.
He said facilities would have to contact the CMS to get assistance when they ran out of burn creams and ointments.
Mayibongwe Masangane, the Secretary General (SG) of the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), said it was true that there was a serious shortage of burn creams and ointments in public health institutions. In fact, he said there was shortage of a lot of medical drugs in the country. He said they were preparing for an urgent meeting to address this issue. Masangane warned that the Ministry of Health might cover up government in such a precarious time. He mentioned that patients should be a priority as opposed to be pretending as though things were normal.
“You are calling me for comment at a time when we are preparing for an extraordinary meeting for nurses to address the issue,” the secretary general said.
A memorandum dated November 10, 2022, written by the Senior Medical Officer at Mankayane Government Hospital, pointed to the shortage of intravenous drug supplies, shortage of other intravenous fluids in the facility.
Signed Dr. Mbuso C. Dlamini, the Senior Medical Officer, the memo stated that there was a shortage of supplies, including medicals required during treatment of elective and emergency surgical services.
“As a result, some services that are offered by the facility, which have been greatly affected by the shortages will temporarily not be rendered until the situation improves,” reads the memo.
“Management sincerely apologises to the hospital staff members, public and patients for the inconvenience,” further read the memorandum.
Published by Science Direct, it is stated in a report on surgical burn care in sub-Saharan Africa that burn injuries are still one of the most common and devastating global health problems worldwide.
The vast majority of burns occur in lowand middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. A certain standard of surgical and anaesthesia care is essential to minimise morbidity and mortality, doctors suggested. The aim of the study was to obtain baseline information on surgical burn care in sub-Saharan Africa and to determine how this can be improved.