Midweek Reporter
HARARE: Health and Child Care deputy minister, Sleiman Kwidini has revealed that rural clinics and Government referral hospitals are facing a serious shortage of drugs due to poor funding.
During the question and answer session in Parliament yesterday, ZANU PF proportional representative for Shamva Bindura, Betty Mashonganyika asked how the health ministry ensures that enough drugs and equipment are supplied to rural clinics and Government referral hospitals.
In his response, Kwidini said drugs are insufficient because of lack of adequate funding from the central governement.
“At the moment, we face challenges in terms of funding. We use the last mile delivery, which gets to the clinic but the drugs will not be sufficient because of a lack of adequate funding,” said Kwidini.
Kwidini appealed to legislators to lobby for early release of funds by the treasury to buy enough drugs.
“So, it is my plea in this august house that we push for early disbursement of funds by the relevant ministry to enable us to buy enough drugs at once.”
In a supplementary question, ZANU PF legislator for Nyanga South, Supa Mandiwanzira asked how far the government has gone with plans to source pharmaceuticals directly from manufacturers.
Kwidini said some of the manufacturers do not accede because some of the local requisitions do not compete in foreign bidding tenders.
“Some of these manufacturers or producers are not interested in coming in because some of the requisitions which are needed when doing the procurement here locally do not compete in those bidding tenders,” Kwidini said.
Kwidini recently attributed the collapse of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Zimbabwe to illegal sanctions imposed by the West.
