Gauteng hospital crisis continues
PARKTOWN – Helen Joseph hospital patients are not the only patients who have to live without their required medicine.
Just like at Helen Joseph Hospital, various patients at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital do not receive their medicines and either go without or have to buy from a private pharmacy.
“I was shocked by the case of Mrs Shamrock Rademeyer, a 65-year-old pensioner, whose family has to spend about R6 000 every month on medicine that is perennially out of stock at the hospital,” said DA Shadow Health MEC Jack Bloom.
According to Shamaine (Rademeyer’s daughter), hospital pharmacists say the medicine her mother takes is unavailable because suppliers have not been paid.
“In the case of Ezetrol anti-cholesterol tablets, the government only pays for 10 patients at the Lipid Clinic to receive it, so one of these patients has to die before another patient can get it,” said Bloom.
Rademeyer often receives four or five prescribed medicines from the hospital, and has to get about 12 others from a private pharmacy.
According to Bloom, other patients who cannot afford to buy medicines have to go without, with severe effects on their health.
According to the third quarterly report of the Gauteng Health Department which covers the October to December 2014 period, only 76 percent of vital medicines were available at health facilities.
“This figure is appallingly low. It means that about one in four essential medicines is not available despite all the promises by Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu.
The excuses for non-availability of medicine are wearing thin. Suppliers must be paid and proper ordering and distribution systems installed. The present intolerable situation must be sharply improved as soon as possible.”
Gauteng Health Spokesperson Prince Hamnca however said, “There were problems with acquisition of medication toward the end of last year when the contracts expired and new tenders were awarded to new companies.”
According to Hamnca, this transition created a temporary shortage of drugs in Gauteng hospitals but the situation in the majority of hospitals has since been stabilised.
“The situation is almost normal as more and more companies have built their stock levels to acceptable levels,” he said.
