AMID HEALTH CRISIS: NURSES MAKING PROFITS

MBABANE – Nurses have found a way to make extra income, capitalising on the country’s collapsed health system. 

Trained to save lives, some healthcare workers at the Mbabane Government Hospital have admitted that they now sell medical drugs to patients, amid the country’s drugs shortage. This publication spoke to over 15 nurses who confessed, on condition of anonymity, to selling drugs to patients. This practice is said to be rife during the night shift when health workers turn to pharmacists and confess to selling their drugs. This happens when a patient comes in as an outpatient and sees a doctor, gets a prescription and will then be told that those drugs are out of stock.

The healthcare worker will then take the patient to the side and let them know they can assist them with the required medication. Not only the outpatients, but those admitted at night who need medical care are also subjected to the same, as they may need certain drugs in the middle of the night and they too need to procure them from the nurses. The healthcare providers insist that this is not a money-making scheme but a helping hand to the patients they see suffering. However, this publication asked if they would be able to turn down money and give patients drugs from the government pharmacy even if it has been made available or if they will continue to claim that it is out of stock just so they could make a profit.

Unavailable

One of the nurses *Samke said: “We would not do that as we have principles, besides, the storage is always lacking.” Questioned about where they buy the medication they sell, the healthcare workers said they buy it as a team. “As a department, we buy some of these medical drugs in bulk that we know are commonly used, but unavailable in stock. We then keep them in store as a department and sell at pharmacy price to the patient in need,”  said * Zweli, another nurse from the Mbabane Government Hospital.

He added that some of the local pharmacies do not have a problem with selling to them in bulk of maybe 10 boxes, and not more because anything over that will need a licence. Some of the commonly used drugs and medical supplies according to the nurses are Biclopanec (injection), pregnancy test and hydrocortisone (for asthma).“We sell these drugs at pharmacy prices and the motive is to bring the medication close and available when it is impossible to get it at night. “It is not for profit gains as you say. Some will say that is debatable, but the reality is that prices even at pharmacies vary,” Zweli insisted.

Insisted

When this publication had a look at some of the drugs most of the commonly sold drugs alongside pregnancy tests are drugs that are graded under Schedule 5-6, which are prescription-only drugs. Such as lisinopril, which is prescribed for high blood pressure, heart failure and hypertension in adults and antibiotics such as  Amoxicillin 500mg among others. The nurses, however, insisted that they only sell these drugs after they have been prescribed by a doctor and they also do not force anyone to buy from them.  A recent undercover investigation by the Times of Eswatini uncovered that prices for the different services range from E20 to at least E100, depending on the need and its scarcity.

Patients who require services for a scan at the Mbabane Government Hospital are charged E100 to secure a spot, since the queues are normally too long. Medical scans help doctors diagnose everything from head trauma to foot pain. There are many different types of imaging technologies. Each works differently. According to the investigation, since the hospital has one radiographer, patients struggle for scans, unless their case is one of emergency or they are admitted.

Prescription

To support the confession by nurses, the recently published Times investigation revealed that after buying the outpatient prescription form, also known as the green card, before proceeding to the X-ray Department to access a scan, the reporter was directed to the gynae clinic to see a doctor who would refer her for scanning. Here, this is where the pregnancy test, for example, is selling like hot cakes. In the investigation, the reporter was told to conduct a pregnancy test after she had told the nurse that she had missed her periods for the past three months. The undercover journalist was further made to pay E20 for the test, as the hospital did not have it and they were providing instead of referring patients to buy in town at private pharmacies, which could take them long.

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