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Nqobile Tshili Chronicle Reporter
THE government has released $500,000 to the National Blood Services of Zimbabwe (NBSZ) to stem a serious shortage of blood and is planning to regulate the price of blood in the country in order to make it affordable to ordinary citizens, a Cabinet minister has said.
The NBSZ recently increased the price of a pint of blood to $200 and scores of patients have failed to access blood owing to high costs to the extent that hospital authorities have been forced to ration blood.
Speaking during a tour of United Bulawayo Hospitals and Ingutsheni Central Hospital last Friday, Health and Child Care Minister, Dr David Parirenyatwa, said the funds availed by the government were meant to capacitate the blood bank so that it reduces the price of blood.
“Blood products are ranging between $130 to $200 depending with the institution.
“This makes blood products inaccessible to the poor. We have provided the NBSZ with $500,000 to capacitate it so that we can regulate the blood price,” he said.
Dr Parirenyatwa said it was government’s priority that health care was accessed by everyone in the country even the less privileged.
He said his ministry was facing a lot of challenges as it received little allocation during the 2014 national budget.
“The most important thing is that the government must commit itself to health provision. The money that came from the fiscus was very little and the ministry is grossly underfunded,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.
In the 2014 National Budget, the health ministry was allocated $337 million.
Health institutions owe NBSZ huge amounts forcing it to cut its services to the hospitals and demand cash up front.
The failure to access blood products for free has forced hospitals to demand patients to pay for their blood.
In some instances, the hospital authorities are rationing the pints of blood preferring to assist patients who required less blood.
The cost of blood, just like any other medical services, is met by the patient but the NBSZ used to provide the blood to hospitals on a credit facility and the hospitals would recover their money after billing their patients.
Online Reporter