Medicine shortage sparks human rights concerns

A health lobby group, the Positive Women’s Network (PWN), is calling on the Mpumalanga government to urgently address the shortage of medicines in public facilities.

The province’s health facilities have been struggling to get various medicines from January.

Violation of human rights

Yesterday, PWN executive director Thandi Maluka confirmed this: “The shortage of medications in our facilities is a violation of human rights. Most community members depend on the government health system when they are sick as they don’t have money to get private health care. The stock-out is a serious problem and we don’t know when or how it will be addressed.

“Most of the patients we interacted with said nurses at the clinics instructed them to buy medicines at the pharmacy as they are out of stock.”

Maluka said their field workers were investigating the extent of the crisis in order to arrange a meeting with the provincial department of health.

ALSO READ: Crackdown on codeine: SA authorities launch digital tracking to combat abuse and illicit trade

Documents shared by clinic insiders showed that the stockout crisis started in January and is continuing.

The document revealed that most of the medicines in short supply “were ordered, but the supplier failed to deliver”.

Struggle for PrEP since January

A woman from Ngodini, outside Mbombela, who asked to remain anonymous, has since January been struggling to get PrEP, which is medicine people at risk take to prevent getting HIV from sex. She said she had gone to several health care centres in vain.

“Everywhere I went I was told to go and buy the medications in the pharmacy, while waiting for deliveries to clinics.”

A mother of a seven-year-old child with flu had the same experience. She went to the Bushbuckridge-based Lilydale clinic several times to get flu medication and was told to buy it from a pharmacy.

ALSO READ: Expert warns: No anti-malaria drug is foolproof

“The reason I went there was because I’m unemployed and don’t have money. So it is so unfair when they say I must buy medications.”

Departmnt denied shortage allegations

A source in the provincial department of health confirmed the serious shortage of medications.

But department spokesperson Dumisani Malamule denied the allegations, saying the department always monitors the supply of medications. “The average availability of medicines in the clinics in the province is currently at 91%.

“The department has a system where facilities make emergency orders for medicines that are out of stock to get new supplies.

“It also has an internal monitoring system to check the availability of the medicines in facilities. The responses alert the pharmaceutical depot of the shortage which prompts timeous interventions.”

ALSO READ: ‘Toxic’ cough syrup for children made in SA withdrawn from the market

Malamule said the perception of shortages of medicines in facilities might have been because when the orders were placed, they had run out.

Premier Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane’s spokesperson Sibongile Mkani-Mpolweni had not responded to questions sent to her by the time of going to print.