By 
Zambia’s Medical Association has called for a declaration of a state of emergency due to shortage of medicines and medical supplies in public health facilities.
ZMA said that this would enable invoking disaster management provisions in the procurement of essential drugs and allied substances.
It is alleged that the Zambia’s national drug stock currently stands at 53.1 percent, which falls way below the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended stock volume availability of 70 percent to 80 percent.
ZMA secretary general Kaumba Roy Tolopu has sounded an alert that many lives would be unnecessarily lost without an emergent approach to this desperate matter of national importance.
Read more: 27 dead bodies found in Lusaka, police institute probe https://www.zambiamonitor.com/27-dead-bodies-found-in-lusaka-police-institute-probe/
On October 07, 2022, Health Minister Sylvia Masebo issued a ministerial statement in Parliament on the status of the availability of insulin in Zambia’s Western province, Kalabo district saying the area was over-stocked with enough insulin to cover four to thirty-seven months based on consumption.
This disputable report implored speaker of the National Assembly to delegate the committee on health, community development and social services to undertake a fact-finding study across the country.
From this background, ZMA studied the special report by the said committee on the availability of medicines and medical supplies in health facilities countrywide which was presented on December 16, 2022 in the second session of the thirteenth national assembly for adoption which was rejected.
Commenting on the report, ZMA through its secretary general Tolopu regretted the rejection of the report by parliament considering the study met the minimum and conventional set standards of evidence generation.
“Further to this, we find that the observations made by the Committee are in conformity with our own findings as a professional body following an exercise we undertook four weeks ago in all provincial health centers across the country aimed at interacting with our members and evaluating their working conditions in hospitals,” Tolopu said.
He said the finding that over the nine months period under review, essential medicines were only available 40.2 percent of the time in tertiary and general hospitals and 23.3 percent in rural centers and health posts called for deep introspection by the government on its struggling health policy.
Tolopu said the committee’s findings that the critical national drug shortage is as a result of insufficient, erratic and inconsistent supplies by the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) vindicated its members who had continued to be maligned and faced with vicious attacks from various government officials who blame them for the collapse of the supply chain on allegations of pilferage.
According to Tolopu, these accusations had yielded no convictions from ZMA’s records but unfortunately pitted them against a suspicious public that they swore an oath to serve diligently and ethically.
“Due consideration should be given to declaration of a state of emergency in the health sector in order to invoke disaster management provisions in the procurement of essential drugs and allied substances.
“Without an emergent approach to this desperate matter of national importance, we believe many lives will be unnecessarily lost, which will be counterproductive to the economic gains made over the past year,” Tolopu said
Comments