Times Of Swaziland: FESTIVE SEASON WOES: SHORTAGE OF BLOOD, AMBULANCES

FESTIVE SEASON WOES: SHORTAGE OF BLOOD, AMBULANCES
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BY STANLEY KHUMALO on 18/11/2019 03:09:00


MBABANE – The Ministry of Health is not ready for the festive season
challenges. The Christmas holiday period is traditionally a time for
celebration. However, it often brings many detrimental health effects, which
medical practitioners may encounter when coming into contact with patients over
the coming weeks.
The challenges that emanate from the variety of festivities entail extreme
consumption of alcohol which as statistics has it, results in a high number of
deaths from fatal road accidents, stabbings, dehydration and other ailments such
as ulcers.
According to global statistics, emaSwati are among the highest consumers of
alcohol. Many have noted the obvious effects such as increased mortality related
to road accidents.
Alcohol
According to reports released by the World Health Organisation in 2018,
approximately 31.4 per cent of males and 22.6 per cent of females died from
deaths attributed to alcohol consumption, and the country was noted as one of
the worst affected by drink-driving.
During the festive season, each nonchalant alcoholic gulp could lead to death as
the Ministry of Health is faced with a quagmire of challenges. The major
challenge, according to Lizzie Nkosi, who is the Minister of Health, is that the
blood bank has barely enough blood.
Nkosi said this posed a challenge mostly due to the fact that alcohol
consumption usually led to violent fights among some of its consumers which
result in stabbings.
Besides the stabbings, which result in huge loss of blood, Nkosi said given the
high volumes of traffic, accidents escalated at this time of the year.
“With the high number of accidents that happen around this time of the year,
we plead with the citizenry to donate blood. This is because our highest donors
are pupils, who at this time of the year are having a break from school.”
On the other hand, the high alcohol consumption by many results in the loss of
life that erodes the economy in countless direct and indirect ways and could be
likened to the grim reaper, here to take the soul of the country in the dead of
night.
The alcohol consumption by many and taking to the road exacerbates the challenge
given that the country has just 16 ambulances for a population estimated to be
1.2 million.
Ambulances
The ambulances, according to the Principal Secretary in the ministry, Dr Simon
Zwane, were constantly in need of being fixed as they were old. He said in
actual fact, the ministry had 28 ambulances, but 12 of them had been grounded
for quite some time and were being attended to at the Central Transport
Administration (CTA).
“Given this challenge, the ministry is bound to have a challenge in
transporting those who need urgent medical attention to national health
facilities. However, we are also relying on the Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
to come to the party,” the PS said.
The challenge of ambulances emanates from the fact that the ministry was awarded
money to procure ambulances, but the process was still incomplete.
The process is said to be stuck at the CTA as the entity is responsible for
procuring government fleet. Worth noting is that the ministry had to discard
renting five vehicles which were used to offer first aid assistance to the
citizenry as they were expensive for government. The ambulances were rented at
E1 800 each per day for almost a year.
The cars were being rented at this rate since last year, just before the Golden
Jubilee Celebrations, which marked the 50th independence of the country and also
the birth of His Majesty King Mswati III.
The five cars were Ford Ranger double cabs and they were fuelled with diesel.
They were rented specifically for the EPR, also known as Emergency Medical
Services (EMS).
Medicine
It is a department within the Ministry of Health that coordinates and delivers
pre- hospital medicine, epidemic preparedness and response and disaster risk
management for health to victims of sudden and serious illness or injury.
Given the ongoing fiscal challenges and the cost of leasing vehicles, Dr Zwane
said the ministry was not keen on renting.
He said it was not cost-effective to rent; however, a decision would be formed
by the situation on the ground.
This is not the only challenge the ministry is faced with given the fast
approaching festive season. For lengthy periods, complaints over lack of
medication and medical equipment in national health facilities were rife at some
point with a stock-out of antiretroviral treatment drugs.
Patients suffering from cancer, diabetes and blood pressure were among many who
were receiving prescription letters in hospitals instead of medication. And to
this shortage, Dr Zwane said: “We are managing what we have and anticipating
shortages. And honestly, we don’t have everything in stock but we are
cognisant of the end-of-year breaks.”
Worth noting is that most factories close for the festive season. Supporting Dr
Zwane was Minister Nkosi, who said: “Our stock is in shape for now but we are
cognisant of the end-of-year breaks.”
She said the ministry had debts amounting to about E800 million and since
January 2019, the arrears had been minimised to E212 million.
Debt
The figure of the current debt has changed, however, due to the fact that
government has procured medication since the last date of payment.
Nkosi said the variation in the exact amount owed to suppliers had altered due
to new bills that were added. She said this was because the needs of the
ministry were unique in such that some merchandise had to be ordered frequently
while some of the supplies were urgently needed at various times.
The minister said the assumption that the stock-out of medical supplies in
various national health centres had little to do with an accrued debt, but was
mostly because government had introduced a new procurement system.
This system, according to Nkosi, had limited the means by the ministry to order
regularly resulting in the shortage of medication. Given that, she said the
ministry was in constant communication with the Ministry of Finance in
establishing a favourable way forward.
In fact, Nkosi said the ministry had an improved system of accounting for its
stock such that each medical supply could be traced from the Central Medical
Stores to the various national health facilities.