POLOKWANE – The Polokwane Correctional Centre boasts the first pharmacy at a correctional centre in the province.
The pharmacy supplies medication to seven correctional centres: Modimolle, Makhado, Polokwane, Tzaneen, Thohoyandou female and juvenile, Thohoyandou medium A and Thohoyandou medium B.
Simphiwe Baloyi, pharmacy manager, said the pharmacy was fully operational from August last year.
“The Pharmacy Council awarded us the licence in December 2013, but we could not operate as there were a few infrastructure standards that we had to meet. In January last year, inmates and officials from Thohoyandou and officials from Polokwane started with construction work and finished in July,” Baloyi said.
She added that there were a lot of benefits to the centre having its own pharmacy.
“We no longer have to go to government hospitals to collect medication, only in special cases and with doctor referrals. The pharmacy also supplies inmates who are HIV positive with antiretrovirals (ARVs),” Baloyi said.
According to Baloyi, the pharmacy would also be registered as a training institution for pharmacy interns and pharmacy assistants.
“We hope to get the pharmacy registered by the end of this year. This initiative is to encourage officials to make use of bursaries offered by the department to study pharmacy,” she said.
Polokwane area commissioner, Kenneth Mthombeni, said the provision of healthcare to inmates was core to the department.
“It is a big achievement for us to have a fully functional pharmacy. Not only are we giving healthcare, but having our own pharmacy also helps with security.
“Now we do not have to transport and escort offenders to hospitals, they get all their healthcare needs met at the centre. We also save on transport costs. The pharmacy also turned wasted space into something productive,” Mthombeni said.
