The Botswana Government says progress has been made in getting medicines to various parts of the country – this after President Duma Boko’s declaration of the State of Public Health Emergency two weeks ago, reports SABC News.
Reports of chronic shortages of medicines and equipment in hospitals and clinics countrywide had been attributed to “corrupt” service providers grossly inflating prices they charged government for medicines and medical equipment.
A fund was urgently established to attract local and international investors to help support the country’s health system, and critical supplies have since been dispatched to a number of facilities, “from the capital city to the furthest part of this country”, said Presidential Press Secretary Emang Mutapati.
He added that more help had been procured from international suppliers.
“They secured 35 tons of medicines and medical commodities from global suppliers which means … 85 lines of critical and life savings medicines that are coming to Botswana,” he added.
MD of the Botswana Development Corporation Oteng Keabetswe, which was tasked with sourcing the financial investment, said the inflation of prices by local suppliers had plunged the country into the healthcare crisis
“We reached out to the local supply community to quote for a six-month supply. The quote came to slightly above R700m (about BWP537m). We sent the same list to international aggregators, and on average this came to about BWP80m (Botswana pula). This is a difference of millions …in times where liquidity is not really available,” he said.
SABC News article – Botswana speeds up medicine delivery after health crisis (Open access)
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