BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Several public health facilities such as health centres, hospitals, and clinics have started receiving drugs from Government.
This was said by Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini today (Thursday, June 6, 2024) during the Breakfast Meeting between the Cabinet and Eswatini Editors Forum. The meeting took place at Mountain View in Mbabane.
Dlamini was responding to the reports that have been circulating, concerning the availability of drugs in hospitals. Local media outlets have reported this week that there was an acute shortage of drugs in the country’s health facilities. Some outlets even stated that the supply was less than 10 percent.
Speaking during the breakfast meeting, the prime minister stated that many health centres have started receiving the drugs. “I am happy to report that the impasse of the supply of drugs has been cleared. More health centres have reported to have received drugs, especially the vital drugs,” Dlamini said.
The premier acknowledged that there were sporadic shortages of drugs here and there, basically because of the nature of the supply chain. He assured the nation that Government was working on the bottlenecks that were present in the supply chain, causing the supply of drugs to be low.
Dlamini said Government was aware that the situation was life-threatening and it continued to work hard to eliminate the inherent bureaucracy to ensure that the supply was smooth. He further mentioned that Government had improved significantly when it came to paying suppliers and they were working hard to ensure that other suppliers were paid.
The prime minister further pleaded with the media to inform the people about the achievements that were made by the Ministry of Health. He said the Ministry of Health was able to reduce the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS by reaching the 95-95-95 target. He also mentioned that the country made significant steps in fighting diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis (TB).
He encouraged the media to work closely with the Ministry of Health so that it could find out about the successes achieved by the Ministry. He stated that it was important for the media to put emphasis on the achievement, as much as it did on the shortcomings.
