Clinics are in short supply
“We were told that the pharmaceutical suppliers haven’t been paid and that’s why there is no medication available to us,” said a client at one of the clinics, who preferred to remain anonymous.
A lack of government funded medication poses an immense risk to residents relying on receiving medication, especially those who require chronic medication for diseases and conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, Diabetes Mellitus, Epilepsy and Blood Pressure abnormalities, to name a few.
“We went to the clinic last month as the woman down the road needs insulin. She must take an insulin shot in the morning and evening or her eyesight is severely affected – we were told that there was no stock available, now she is without medication,” said the client.
According to the woman, the pharmaceutical suppliers haven’t been paid. Though the clinics are more than willing to help, they just can’t.
“The sisters want to help the patients, but simply can’t because they lack the necessary medication. For instance I have to go a whole month without my blood pressure tablets,” said the client.
For some it might seem like nothing, but for others it could mean a world of difference, for instance children suffering from Hypertension (high blood pressure or arterial hypertension) are more likely to suffer seizures and express difficulty in breathing, although this cannot be cured, it can be treated – through government funded medication.
This is not the first time clinics have run dry on their stock. In 2013 a number of clinics nationwide were reported to have run out of stock.
“When clinics and hospitals run out of medicine it can be very bad for our health. It also burdens us with out of pocket costs we cannot afford. Many of us do not have much money and struggle to pay for transport to the clinic. Because of medicines stock outs we are often told to come back every two weeks instead of every month. This costs time and money only to reach the clinic and be told there are no medicines,” said Anele Yawa, Chairperson, Treatment Action Campaign (Stockouts National Survey) in regards to the outage experienced in 2013.
Stop Stock Outs Project, a national project, assists health care users whose lives remain threatened by medication stock outs.
The Stop Stock Outs Project is calling on patients and healthcare workers to report any medication stock outs or shortages that have resulted in patients’ treatment being changed, patients being turned away from their clinic and referred elsewhere and/or being given an insufficient supply of medication.
Report stock outs and shortages by sending a ‘please call me’, SMS or phoning 084 855 7867 or sending an e-mail to report@stockouts.co.za or by visiting their website – note you will remain anonymous should you choose to do so.
The Mpumalanga Department of Health released the following statement:
The Mpumalanga Department of Health is moving with speed to put systems in place to ensure that there is no more medication that will be disposed.
The MEC for Health, Mr Gillion Mashego in his reply in the Provincial Legislature on March 31 stated that the Department has called on all managers to ensure that in their cluster meetings they hold on a monthly basis, they must discuss medication as an item.
This allows them to share information as to which health facilities have a shortage of medications. The ones with more stock will then be able to supply those that are in short of that particular medication.
Whilst this is happening, the Department has advertised a Pharmaceutical tender in the Tender Bulletin for the supply of medications in all health facilities. The tender will see the appointment of a service provider that will ensure that a proper system is put in place to ensure that the supply of medication is effective and that the system to be used detects if there are shortages before health facilities run out.
Witbank News asked the community if they had any trouble getting their medication from government clinics and these were some of the comments on Facebook:
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