Drugs syndicate costing lives

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,(&( by piece, the pu]]le of the missing drugs in our health facilities is being solved. From what has been put forward by the health surveys and audits thus far, only a few pieces of the pu]]le remain on the table. The emerging picture depicts a well-organised drug smuggling syndicate.

The question is; will there be political will to do justice with the findings that reveal a disheartening loss of taxpayers¶ money by those without a care about what becomes of the lives of those who desperately need this medication.

The public outcry on the drug shortages have, not long ago, caused government to increase the amount of money spent by the +ealth 0inistry on medical drugs by almost per cent.It increased from ( . for the financial year ended 0arch , 2 2 , to ( 4 .4 the following year. Despite this, the shortages persist. %ut now we know the drugs disappear after being dispatched from the &entral 0edical Stores &0S .

This week¶s revelation of (2 worth of drugs found to have gone missing at the 5aleigh Fitkin 0emorial 5F0 +ospital shortly after receiving the stock from &0S and delivery being confirmed, is damning to say the least. Some heads need to roll here.

It seems pointless to call for yet another forensic audit when there is no detailed report on the implementation of a previous investigation on drug shortages in our health facilities. It was carried out five years ago through a commission led by the deceased former 3rincipal Secretary 3S in the 0inistry of Information, &ommunication and Technology I&T Sikelela Dlamini. The investigation highlighted a number of gaps as well as specific recommendations. If these were implemented, why do we have the same problems in 2 22"

We were told then that at least 2 people needed to be employed for administrative, pharmacy, support and procurement functions. It was found that the shortage of pharmaceutical personnel contributed to the poor management of pharmaceutical services and that there were structural gaps, a shortage in staffing levels and inadequate staff capacity. Well it goes without saying that these gaps still exist if drugs can simply µwalk out¶ of a health facility.

It can¶t be that millions of (malangeni worth of drugs put in the care of a recipient just vanish without somebody having to answer for it.

Audits

The auditor general has also carried out his normal audits, and a specific one most recently, which hospital sources say found that there were drugs worth (2 that had gone missing at 5F0.

0eanwhile, thousands of patients have been turned back at dispensaries and referred to pharmacies, where another threat to people¶s lives exists. A recent survey conducted by the 0inistry of +ealth found that of the pharmacies visited, only were manned by pharmacists and 4 by pharmacy technicians, while the rest of the personnel were not pharmacy trained.

According to findings of the survey on some pharmacies, the displayed registration certificate was for a pharmacist who was known to be working elsewhere.

What¶s worse, expired drugs were found in these pharmacies, and almost 2 per cent of them failed to meet the basic requirements for safe storage of drugs.

/icensing of these facilities was also found wanting. Following the survey conducted in 0ay, it was revealed that there were 44 retail pharmacies licensed between 2 and 2 22, but only 24 had their licences renewed by 0arch 2 22. Why are they hiding now"

The only reason is because they are used as fronts to sell the stolen drugs or dispose of the expired medication which the +ealth 0inistry says it is struggling to destroy.

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most lucrative and there are bound to be vultures that would stop at nothing to chew a si]eable share of the billions pumped into it annually. It is heartless and unforgivable to subject people to such inhumane treatment.

The ministry has announced plans to stop the drug shortages and losses by introducing a logistics management information system /0IS . The 3S in the 0inistry of +ealth, Dr Simon Zwane, previously explained to this publication that finance had been obtained from the *lobal Fund and /0IS was being piloted at 3igg¶s 3eak *overnment +ospital, Dvokolwako +ealth &entre and /obamba &linic.

+e said ideally the &0S should be able to have visibility of most of the health facilities and the movement of the drugs stock. The ministry plans to implement the /0IS in 22 other facilities.

The sooner all the facilities stop the rot, the better.

We cannot afford to go another day under the current circumstances where there is no guarantee that a visit to hospital, clinic or even a pharmacy, will give one access to much needed medication.

The sooner we also eliminate the drugs syndicate the better, we will save the taxpayer millions of (malangeni in losses through a procurement system that leaves us with large quantities of drugs that are almost ready to be disposed. are equipped to