MEDICAL DRUGS SHORTAGE: PM COMES HARD ON MEDICAL STORES STAFF, HEALTH PS

MATSAPHA – “Focus on what matters, address the crisis; patience has run out.”

These were the words of Prime Minister (PM) Russell Dlamini to the Central Medical Stores (CMS) Assistant Director, Thembi Gama, as he lamented the failure to address the medical drugs crisis and the lack of a plan of action to address drug theft. Eager for answers on the drugs shortage, the PM demanded answers from the team on what was being done to address the issue of stolen medical drugs and supplies. The PM challenged the CMS to develop solutions that address the shortage of medical drugs and supplies caused by the theft of these items. He said the patience afforded the CMS and the Ministry of Health in fixing the crisis has run out.

Toured

The PM said these words yesterday during his tour of government health facilities. The PM yesterday toured four of the facilities, including the Mbabane Government Hospital, Manzini Government Hospital (former TB Centre), National Psychiatric Referral Hospital, as well as the CMS. The tour aimed to get first-hand information on whether the interventions put in place to strengthen the health system were bearing fruit and where the government would need to improve. The PM’s tour was led by the Minister for Health, Mduduzi Matsebula, Principal Secretary (PS) Khanya Mabuza, members of the PM’s Office Portfolio Committee in both Houses of Parliament, Microprojects Director Sibusiso Mbingo, among other senior officials of the Ministry of Health.

The PM was impressed with the developments and challenged the healthcare staff to do more. However, when he came to the CMS, the atmosphere changed. The CMS Assistant Director Gama, made a presentation of the strides that have been taken by the CMS to address several challenges that led to the national medical drugs and supplies shortage. At the end of her presentation, the PM noted that Gama’s presentation lacked a very crucial element, which was the theft of medical drugs and supplies from the CMS and health facilities, to the final consumer.

“I was listening to your presentation, hoping you would bring up one crucial aspect, but you have concluded the presentation and left out the most crucial element - the tracking of medical drugs. How do you track the drugs from the CMS to the patient, because that is crucial in dealing with the theft of medical drugs?” he asked. The assistant director tried to respond with the help of the minister, saying there is a system that would be implemented before the end of the financial year.

The PM asked the director if, without the system, it meant they did not have a control mechanism to track the quantity of medical drugs disbursed against the people who consumed them and determine if indeed the figures collate. The PS in the Office of the PM, Bertram Stewart, told the officers that the PM was not saying the system was not going to work, but explained that a digital system should just be a mere migration from manual. He said what the PM wanted was to know if there was any manual mechanism to do this, since the digital system would be fed by human beings.

The PS also shared about medical drugs that were found around one of the schools in Mbabane, which were still under investigation by the police. He was emphasising the need to have tracking systems. Before Gama should continue, the PM said she should save that information for another day and went on to register his concerns.  The PM told the CMS director with the senior official that the drugs issue was not putting government in a good light, and they wanted to end the issues of the health system. “We want you to focus on what is important; the crisis has to be addressed and our patience has run out; we cannot keep on hoping,” he said.The PM said he believed the issue of tracking drugs could be addressed within a month if the CMS had a plan and knew what it was doing.

Resolve

“Identify the problem and say how you are going to resolve it and set a plan of action and address the problem. We do not want glorified strategies here; we want action plans. I am very sorry to say this, but patience is running out in as far as this is concerned,” he said. He challenged the director to have data from national, regional and community levels, track it manually and digitally, and act where there are challenges. Just after he had finished addressing the issue, the PS in the Ministry of Health, Mabuza, explained to the PM that some of the things the premier said were actually done. In response, the PM told him that he should not have spoken, because he had made things worse. “You should not have spoken, you have all the time to come to Cabinet to update us; all that we want is proof that you are resolving the crisis,” he said. The PM’s parting words to the CMS team were that they should focus on what matters and come to Cabinet to present what they are doing. “Focus on what matters as the patience has run out,” he said as he shook hands with Gama.

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