Chronicle Editor
Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporter
THERE is relief for patients in Bulawayo as most essential drugs are now available at Government hospitals.
In an interview, Mpilo Central Hospital Clinical Director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya said the hospital has been receiving medical supplies from the National Pharmaceutical Company (NatPharm).
He said the situation at the hospital had significantly improved. “While we are not at our best, I am happy to say that the situation at the hospital has greatly improved as we have been receiving drugs and other medical supplies from NatPharm. We are grateful to the government for prioritising health care and it is our hope that it stays this way as our jobs are better to handle when medical supplies are there,” said Dr Ngwenya.
“On average, we have about 500 adult patients admitted to the hospital at a time and about 100 children. An average of 30 babies are born every day at the hospital.”
Dr Ngwenya said the hospital had witnessed an increase in the number of patients seeking treatment in the past few days following last week’s protests.
“The numbers that we are attending to has significantly increased following disturbances of violent protests that swept across the country,” he said.
Dr Ngwenya said deliveries to the hospital were temporarily interrupted for days as a result of the protests as the hospital was cut off from the CBD after protesters barricaded roads. “We had a few days when our supplies could not be delivered as a result of the disruptions of our logistics following the protests. However, all is well now and we are fully operational,” he said.
Ingutsheni Central Hospital Chief Executive Officer Mr Enerst Manyawu said the hospital has enough medical supplies for the first quarter of the year.
“Our current drugs supply is stable and we are expecting deliveries from NatPharm for more stocks of some of our medical supplies. We are yet to receive the first funds from our budget allocation next month and so the situation at the hospital is stable. The drugs that we have are adequate to take us to March or April,” said Mr Manyawu.
Efforts to get a comment from the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) were fruitless as the institution’s CEO Ms Nonhlanhla Ndlovu had not responded to questions she had asked to be sent via email yesterday.
The country’s supplies of drugs have been affected by the lack of foreign currency since the country imports about 90 percent of its medicines. — @andile_tshuma
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