THE Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia (PSZ) has supported President Banda’s calls to enhance the national drugs supply chain in the Ministry of Health.
And Government has advised health practitioners tasked with the duty of ensuring constant supply of drugs to health centres to ensure they do so without unnecessary delays.
Speaking when he toured Medical Stores Limited yesterday, Health Deputy Minister Solomon Musonda said the delays in the procurement process had affected the smooth delivery of services and resulted in artificial shortage of drugs in health centres.
Dr Musonda called on staff at local clinics to coordinate with the procurement officers at district health management team offices to ensure they ordered for drugs required before they completely ran out of stock.
Medical Store pharmacist Ann Zulu said there were adequate stocks of medicines but the delays were from clinics which were not making orders in advance.
And PSZ president Bonaventure Kasama said Mr Banda’s efforts to address the inefficiencies in the supply of drugs was commendable.
Mr Kasama said the association was ready to offer professional, technical and mutual support in rectifying the situation.
In a statement in Kitwe yesterday, Mr Kasama said it was important to strengthen and streamline the national drugs supply chain by re-establishing the directorate of pharmaceutical services to oversee the function of drugs supply and give it oversight jurisdiction.
He said the Ministry of Health should include pharmacists and pharmacy technologists on rural retention schemes to boost the capacity of health institutions in such areas in managing drug supplies.
Mr Kasama called upon the MoH to enhance medicines regulation by convening the pharmaceutical regulatory authority board, which he said had not taken place for a long time despite the board having been appointed.
“The existence of a functional pharmaceutical regulatory authority board will further strengthen the functions of pharmaceutical regulatory authority,” he said.
On Monday, during the swearing in of the newly-appointed Health Permanent Secretary, Peter Mwaba, President Banda said the country had sufficient drugs but administrative lapses were responsible for the artificial shortages being experienced in some health centres.
And a check by the Times at some clinics in Kabwe showed that they all had essential drugs in stock and patients were being treated normally.
At Mahatma Ghandi Clinic, a nurse who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “We have all kits of the essential drugs in stock. There has never been a situation where we have run out of drugs because Medical Store ensures that it supplies medicines on time.”
The situation was similar at Pollen, Railway, Mpima, Natuseko and Bwacha clinics.
And some male and female patients admitted to various wards at Ndola Central Hospital said the institution was not experiencing a shortage of drugs.
Abraham Kalulu, who has a problem with his legs, and Chola Tembo, a malaria patient, said they were hopeful they would soon recover because of the adequate supply of drugs at the hospital.
[Times of Zambia]
This news is from Times of Zambia. Can we have an indpendent report please on the drug situation because in most cases are not given medicine when they go to the hospitals or clinics.
What magic are they going to use. There is confusion in the system and through this confusion some are benefitting.
RB is on serious campaign..just watch the recent headlines “RB tells mines to pay suppliers” ,”RB instructs Japanese to start c/b road works”,”RB orders sell of Itawa flats to tenants”,”RB says thers no drug shortage”…..hello???? can one MCS also make a headline,their only headlines are insults…..wina azalila again 2011 !!!
#3 Mr. Shimutale- IS CALLING fR bWALYA ugly face not an insult/ And is this how you run a country by ordering developments without pattern? I thought these guys sit down and plan a budget for the whole nation. He is behaving like a person who wants promotion but is told that he needs certain papers for such. He then rushes to forge these papers in desparation.
So imwe bashimutale you rejoice on such crap. The man is just making promises and you embrace him. He has been president let him show us progress and leave announcements to his ministers and other resposible personnel. And its like all developments will only commence after his approval.Why is he having his OLD knee checked in RSA if our clinics and hospitals are equiped? Shi Mutale this man you are blindling supporting is not the right man for the Job.
We are Zambians please don’t deceive us.I just came from hospital now.There is absolutely nothing.Why do you twist stories?
When one tells you he/she is hungry u can’t say no we know iwe nawikuta saana no no no
This story is from another unreliable paper, just like post and daily mail, biased reporting is not good for the development of the nation. The best people to ascertain if we have adequate drugs in the RHC and hospitals are patient/clients and being one of them i can tell you that the situation is pathetic
There are no medical supplies in the rural areas, that’s where people get panadol for their high blood pressure. Come back to Lusaka and go to a clinic like the one in Chelston, there too you will be hit with panadol for whatever ails you – oh, and sometimes, they do not even have panadol. This is nonsense!
I have a reliable source, there isnt enough medication to go round. Prez is lying and so is everybody else, ubufi. Kwa Kanyama kula ba kafwafwa ku clinic.