Morphine powder shortage hits Lowveld
MBOMBELA - Terminally ill patients and those with life-threatening diseases across the Lowveld, and their families, were left in dire straits over the past month due to the nationwide shortage of morphine powder.
Small towns in Mpumalanga have been particularly compromised by the lack of fast-acting opioid analgesics.
Linda Smuts runs a community palliative care service in Hazyview in conjunction with her community work at The Healing Hill. On September 7, one of her terminally ill patients passed away with no access to morphine syrup, a critical and fast-acting pain medication made from morphine powder.
“My patient had suffered a crippling stroke, which rendered her incapable of swallowing or moving freely. She critically needed pain management,” Smuts said.
“We had access to morphine sulphate and pain patches, but these are slower-acting than the syrup in providing relief and they are too expensive for most South Africans. Terminal patients often require more immediate pain relief,” she said.
The CEO of Nelspruit Hospice, Landi Bezuidenhout, confirmed the drastic situation. “Families have struggled to get their loved ones’ scripts over the past month, and pharmacies have had to borrow from one another in order to supply critical pain medication.”
The clinical director of PalPrac (the Association of Palliative Care Practitioners of South Africa), Dr Margie Venter, said, “We’ve had reports of morphine powder shortages from every province in South Africa for a number of weeks.”
In Mbombela, many pharmacists had to borrow from one another as they battled to fill scripts for families desperate to relieve the pain of their loved ones.
Ineke Cross, a pharmacist of Mopani Pharmacy, confirmed all their branches were still out of stock by late last week.
“We had to turn away a cancer sufferer who was forced to search elsewhere. He was devastated,” she said.
According to Bezuidenhout, the local supply blockage has been relieved, although South African regulations still make rural and small-town palliative care difficult.
Global morphine powder supply was heavily impacted by Covid-19 after India and China, the world’s main suppliers of morphine powder, retracted much of their supply to global markets due to the pandemic.
For more information on palliative care, contact Nelspruit Hospice on 013 744 0095, or The Healing Hill, Hazyview, on
084 236 9800.