LISWATI BUSTED SMUGGLING E800 000 DRUGS INTO SA

MBABANE – While some public hospitals have no medication, drugs worth about E800 000 were nabbed being smuggled into South Africa.

The consignment of the medical drugs was discovered with a liSwati who was transporting them into South Africa and were suspected to have been stolen locally. The suspect, who was arrested at the South African side of the Ngwenya/Oshoek Border Gate, reportedly informed South African law enforcers upon his arrest that he had been recruited to transport the medication.

Imports

He supposedly informed the law enforcers that someone had bought the medical drugs locally. However, it is worth noting that the country imports medical drugs as there are no pharmaceutical plants producing them locally. It is yet to be verified if the drugs were stolen from government institutions or private pharmacies. The arrest of the man transporting the medical drugs happened almost eight weeks after the Auditor General (AG), Timothy Matsebula, submitted a report in Parliament, detailing that over E151 million of medical drugs were unaccounted for in the public health facilities. This, he said, resulted in a shortage of medical supplies yet government had improved its budget for them by over 55 per cent. Meanwhile, the destination of the medical drugs is yet to be ascertained as the driver claimed ignorance to the contents of the consignment when he was arrested.

Busted

The suspect was said to have also submitted that he did not know that he was transporting a stolen consignment when he was busted by the South African Police Service (SAPS) under the Border Policing at the Oshoek Port of entry. Subsequent to his arrest, the man is expected to appear at the Chief Albert Luthuli Magistrates Court today and he was charged for the contravention of the South Africa Medical Act. SAPS’s Brigadier Selvy Mohlala confirmed that a liSwati man was arrested on Friday at around 4:05pm. In a media statement, which was issued by the office of the Provincial Commissioner in Mpumalanga, it was reported that the suspect was nabbed after failure to produce authorisation for transportation of the consignment across the border.

It was stated that the police, who were busy with their routine duties, searched a truck which was pulling two trailers. During their search, the law enforcers reportedly discovered that the truck was transporting a huge consignment of medication and that it was headed to SA from Eswatini. “The driver is said to have failed to produce authorisation for transportation of the luggage across the border, hence he was locked up and charged for alleged contravention of the Medical Act,” reads part of the statement. It is worth noting that leading to the enquiry by the AG, there had been complaints from almost all medical facilities that there was no medication. As such, there were claims that some of the medication was being stolen to be supposedly sold to mushrooming pharmacies in the various parts of the country. In February 2023, Matsebula presented his Forensic Investigation Proposal and Audit of Acquisition, Distribution, and Management of Pharmaceuticals Report wherein he stated that drugs worth E151.6 million were missing and or unaccounted for in public health facilities around the country.

Misuse

The AG supposed the cause of this to be, among other things, theft and misuse for personal benefit, which in turn led to a public outcry on the shortage of medical drugs and pharmaceuticals. The audit focused on the acquisition and distribution of medicines to public health facilities, including the Central Medical Stores (CMS), under the administration of the Ministry of Health, and covered the 2020/21 and 2021/22 financial years. The investigation by Matsebula was prompted by the constant shortage of medical supplies and drugs, which has been a continuous challenge in the public health sector in the kingdom over the years. This challenge has continued despite interventions by the Ministry of Health to strengthen its stock controls. This issue has seen health practitioners petitioning government in various instances and they raised concerns and outlined that, among other things, they were now issuing prescription letters instead of affording the citizenry adequate care, as per their oath of service.

Discrepancies

It has been gathered that during the AG’s audit, a number of discrepancies in the health sector came to the fore. Last year April, drugs worth over E250 000 were reported to be missing at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital. The drugs were said to have been received and recorded at the institutions storeroom, but could not be accounted for during a stick verification exercise. Also, over E2 million worth of medical drugs were allegedly unaccounted for at the Pigg’s Peak Government Hospital. It was gathered that the medical drugs went missing as there were no stock cards, where they had been recorded to have been distributed.

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