Digital drug tracking system deployed to curb leakages

GOVERNMENT has deployed a real-time digital supply tracking system to monitor medication from NatPharm to hospitals and is drafting strict zoning laws to prohibit health personnel from operating private pharmacies near State medical facilities in order to eliminate drug syndicates in public hospitals.

The multi-pronged strategy targets cartels within health institutions that siphon bulk public medication for resale in private pharmacies, leaving State hospital shelves empty.

Speaking during a Question and Answer session in the National Assembly midweek, Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Sleiman Kwidini revealed that the Ministry has engaged a tech firm to monitor pharmaceutical batches directly from the National Pharmaceutical Company (NatPharm) central depots to public health institutions.

“As I am speaking, there is a company that we hired as the Ministry of Health and Child Care to install a tracking system from the source, from NatPharm to Parirenyatwa Hospital, to those who will be receiving such medication and eventually going to the pharmacy,” Deputy Minister Kwidini said.

The Deputy Minister admitted that Government was losing “a lot of money through leakages” as some medical personnel steal medication meant for patients.

“In every home there is a troublemaker; there is no home without one,” he said. “After buying medication, people steal medication from hospitals for resale in their pharmacies.”

However, Deputy Minister Kwidini said the new system will pinpoint exactly where drugs are leaking.

“The tracking system that I am talking about is going to identify where the leakage happened, whether it leaked from NatPharm to Gumbonzvanda or to those who are supposed to dispense medication; are they dispensing properly?” he said.

Deputy Minister Kwidini said offenders caught diverting public medication will face strict law enforcement and immediate criminal prosecution.

“In the near future, you will note that there are some who are going to come… they will be coming to negotiate on behalf of their relatives who would have been ensnared by the system and will be facing prosecution. The President, Dr Mnangagwa, said that those who steal should be arrested,” he said.

To plug conflict-of-interest loopholes, Deputy Minister Kwidini said the Government is working alongside the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) to ban public health staff from establishing private businesses adjacent to State hospitals.

“At the beginning of the week, we had a meeting with the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe to discuss that those who work in hospitals cannot open businesses where they sell medication next to the hospital because there is a conflict of interest,” he said.

“As I am speaking, the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe is in the process of promulgating such a law.”

Responding to queries on whether imported public drugs carry designated markings, Deputy Minister Kwidini noted that while foreign suppliers stamp bulk drugs with batch numbers reserved for the Zimbabwean public market, internal repackaging by hospital-level cartels previously hindered traceability.

The automated digital system will now pinpoint exact points of diversion—whether at NatPharm or inside local dispensaries—and track whether drugs are being dispensed appropriately to patients.

Deputy Minister Kwidini called on members of the public to report suspected illicit drug diversions and testify in court to aid the conviction of corrupt officials.