04 Apr 2022

The Ministry of Health and Wellness has, as a short term solution, allocated all District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) and referral hospitals across the country enough funds to directly procure some medication from the private market.

“We, therefore, anticipate that there should be noticeable improvement on availability of drugs and medications from next month, said minister, Dr Edwin Dikoloti when updating Parliament recently.
“The challenge affects most medications, but has been more pronounced in children’s and chronic diseases medications,” said the minister, adding that as such, the ministry made a deliberate decision to expand the Chronic Medications Dispensing Programme through which patients were registered and given medication from private pharmacies.
The minister said the programme was initially operational in greater Gaborone and greater Francistown DHMTs only, but was now expanded to seven more areas of Lobatse, Molepolole, Mahalapye, Palapye, Serowe, Selebi Phikwe and Maun.

Dr Dikoloti said conditions covered under the programme included hypertension, diabetes, heart diseases, asthma, epilepsy, mental diseases, among others.
He further said the ministry received a sizeable number of medicines including vaccines for children under the age of five as well as some chronic medications this month, and were delivered to various facilities across the country.

He added that some tenders to procure more drugs and medications were already in process.
He explained that the shortage was brought about by different factors, including the slow procurement systems, which failed to facilitate the needs of the healthcare system.
Dr Dikoloti further pointed that while processes of the Public Procurement and Assets Disposal Board (PPADB) were meant to facilitate fair play and competitive bidding, the system was unsuitable for procurement of health goods and commodities, especially medications.

“The traditional procurement system process takes quite some time to mature, in some cases even months while medications are an emergency requirement.
Therefore, the lengthy procurement system has not served well in the health sector,” said the minister.
He expressed hope that the change in approach would ensure faster and more convenient availing  of drugs and medications.

Dr Dikoloti also blamed COVID-19 pandemic, saying it had an effect on the shortage of drugs and medications in health facilities.
He said due to international restrictions necessitated by the pandemic, medical supplies got depleted while more people required medical attention and more medications due to health complications emanating from COVID-19. ENDS