A public health emergency has been declared in Botswana, where hospitals and clinics are running out of medicine and other vital supplies and surgeries are having to be postponed, reports Reuters.
On Monday, President Duma Boko said the military would oversee an emergency distribution drive, and the first trucks would leave the capital Gaborone and head to remote areas by the evening.
The Health Ministry warned this month that supplies were running out, due to unspecified financial challenges, and that all non-urgent surgery had been postponed.
Medicines for hypertension, cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis, eye conditions, asthma, sexual reproductive health and mental health conditions are all in short supply, as are dressings and sutures.
“The supply chain as run by central medical stores has failed,” Boko said in a televised address. “This has led to a severe disruption to supplies countrywide.”
The Finance Ministry had approved 250m pula ($17.35m) in emergency funding for procurement, he added.
Contributory factors to the crisis include that Botswana’s budget has been constrained this year because of a downturn in the global diamond market – it is the world’s leading producer of diamonds – while the abrupt ending of US funding that supported the health sector also played a part.
Boko added that the price at which government procures medical supplies was also inflated, and that existing distribution systems were causing loss, waste and damage.
Compounding matters was that the Health Ministry owes 1bn pula to private health facilities and suppliers.
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