Minister of Health Jean Kalirani on Friday assured Malawians that they should not panic with reports of shortage of drugs in public hospitals, saying the country has enough stocks of medicines and supplies at its Central Medical Stores Trust (CMST).
Dr. Jean Kalirani (r) Minister of Health and Dr. Charles Mwansambo l Chief of Health Services
Kalirani has said government was committed to maintaining high standards of health service delivery in the country despite economic challenges.
Speaking during a news conference in Lilongwe, Kalirani was quick to blame some scrupulous workers for stealing the drugs for their personal gains.
“Let me say here that there are some health workers who steal drugs in our hospitals,” said Kalirani.
She said another problem leading to drug scarcity is the delay by some District Health Officers to submit their requistions.
Kalirani has since asked Malawians to report anyone found stealing drugs to Malawi Police.
She revealed that her Ministry has summoned all DHOs to an impromptu indaba in order to discuss about the drug supplies in the country.
“There are a lot of interventions that have contributed to the current status including donor provision of drugs to supplement capitalization at the Medical stores, government’s provision of funds to hospitals to procure drugs from the CMST and parallel supply chains,” she said.
According to her, a recent assessment study by the Ministry of Health indicated that most of the sampled health facilities across the country had ample stocks of vital medicines and supplies.
CMST Chief Executive Officer, Feston Kaupa said public facilities procure drugs from the stores after receiving their monthly allocation from government.
“All hospitals are supposed to submit their monthly reports and orders of medicines and supplies by the10th day of the upcoming month,” he said.
Based on this, he said, the trust draws up a delivery schedule to the health facilities but in the event that District Health Officer make late submission, the CMST does not deliver on time.