ADDRESS DRUGS SHORTAGE WITH URGENCY, GOVT TOLD

CONTNUED reports of drug shortages in health facilitate must be addressed as a matter of urgency by the UPND government, says the Zambia Must Prosper (ZMP).

ZMP is saddened that President Hakainde Hichilema’s UPND Government has neglected the health sector which has resulted in many parts of the country facing a shortage of medicines and medical supplies.

ZMP spokesperson Trymore Mwenda said in an alleviating inflammation,

interview that the impact of this seemingly prolonged shortage of medicines in terms of human life will never be known.

Mr Mwenda disclosed that the ZMP has established that a number of district hospitals such as Chipata, Kalindawalo, Petauke and Lundazi in Eastern Province are issuing prescriptions to patients even for the basic essential drugs which one expects to find at any well-managed health facility.

“Central Province has not been spared as most of the health centres in Kabwe, Mkushi, Serenje, Chtambo, Mumbwa are experiencing the same shortage of drugs,” he said.

“What we are saying is that this problem is everywhere whether in Luapula, Southern, Western, Muchinga, Luapula, Copperbelt, North-Western, Northern and Lusaka the capital city of this country,” Mr Mwenda said.

He said many citizens are expressing outrage at the UPND Government’s failure to address the problem more than a year of being in office

“We are appealing to the UPND Government to address the drugs shortage immediately as a matter of urgency as this touches on people’s lives,” Mr Mwenda said.

He claimed that ZMP under the leadership of president Kelvin Fube Bwalya would place a high premium on citizens’ lives because once life is lost it can never be replaced and therefore believes everything must be done by a responsible Government to preserve and nurture life.