05 Dec 2022

Kgatleng District Health Management Team (DHMT) continues to register patients to access some medication at private pharmaceuticals to address drug shortage.

Responding to concerns raised by Kgatleng District councillors, the DHMT head, Dr Boipelo Lecoge told a district full council meeting on Wednesday that to date, more than 700 clients had been registered to access medication at private pharmacies.

Of this number, she said, 300 had so far been enrolled while some were still going through the vetting process with access at Associated Fund Administrators.

Dr Lecoge said drug shortage was not only peculiar to Kgatleng and that the problem was worsened by COVID-19 coupled with other challenges.

“This is a national issue that we are trying to address across all health facilities,” she said.

Dr Lecoge admitted that the Ministry of Health was equally concerned with the current acute shortage of critical medications, especially for chronic conditions.

She however said some strides had been made in dispensing of medication for children, Anti-retroviral drugs and Tuberculosis, further noting that there was acute shortage of drugs for chronic illnesses that include cancer and diabetes.

Council also learnt that government was also making a headway in trying to collaborate with some partners to promote Botswana as a suitable hub for pharmaceutical manufacturing.

She admitted that health service delivery was marred by challenges because Botswana with a small population was not attractive to investors which made the pharmaceutical supply to the country very low.

She said other problems emanated from restrictions imposed by COVID-19 that affected production of some vaccines countrywide, whereas demand had not stopped especially for Non communicable diseases.

“The Russia-Ukraine wars also exacerbated shipping costs and thereby affecting the supply chain for some drugs,” she said.  Ends