Malawi has enough medicine stocks -Kalirani
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).
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.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
Kuba kuli mzipatala
Madam minister are you saying all this because of the local govt by-election slated on 25th augast 2015.People will still vote for you becoz malawians dont know what they want. Remember you can fool MALAWIANS but not ALL.
Shame the whole big mum goes on air start lying you people you are failures how long are you going to keep on lying people are dying each and everyday with simple diseases like malaria
WHAT THE MINISTER HAS SAID IS THE CONTRARY TO WHAT IS ON THE GROUND. TO SAY THE TRUTH, PUBLIC HOSPITALS HAVE NO MEDICENES MAY BE SHE IS KEEPING AT HER HOUSE. PLEASE ANDUNA TATOPA NALO BOZA SIYANI KUNAMA WE ARE GROWN UP PEOPLE .
THERE IS NOT EVEN A SINGLE DRUG IN RURAL HOSPITALS AND PEOPLE ARE REALLY SUFFERING. YET SOMEBODY IS TELLING US THE CONTRARY AS IF WE ARE ALL CHILDREN. VERY INSENSITIVE. SUCH PEOPLE SHOULD JUST BE TIED WITH A ROPE AROUND THEIR NECK AND THROWN INTO LAKE MALAWI. FOKOLO..BULSHEET!
My Honourable Minister you are talking rubbish I am sorry to say.How come all the high profile people get treated or die in expensive private hospital s or South Africa thus including the former president? The only answer is clear I do not need to say it. .Don’t think we were born yesterday madam BIG/ LARGE Mininister kuti muzitinamiza.just zip it and sort your acts and make way for people who know what to be a poor Malawi is.
Stupid Kalilani.
we all know departments and ministries are not being funded.
now how do the DHO’s procure drugs if not funded?
This DPP govt stinks like shit. Govt has no money to finance DHO’s procurement of drugs. Govt must go back to reconcile with donors who will release money for proper functioning of hospitals and other govt departments. This means rooting out corruption and instituting impeccable anti-graft measures which DPP cannot do. Rumphi hospital has been closed for one month now because there are no drugs. Other hospitals are also down. DPP blackmails people by saying Malawi can be economically independent and operate on zero-aid budget. Stupid. Even Greece needs money from other countries, so what is Malawi to do away… Read more »
why is peter keeping this woman. she can not perform,remove her from this job,she has failed the nation.
Have you ever asked yourself as a Minister why workers steal the drugs? You discover that there are lots of contributing factors. The best thing you can do Madam Minister is to champion reform of this CMS. The system is a shambles and politians ignore to sort it out because they know it’s one their many cash cows. Its sad that politics in the third World is about getting rich quickly. No morals at all. We are getting tired. The water is up to the neck. Please once again stop taking us for fools.