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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has said it is failing to provide medicines to patients at its clinics due to shortage of foreign currency.
The statement followed a request by residents for the local authority to avail cheaper medicines at its clinics to cushion patients against exorbitant prices charged by private pharmacies.
According to the latest council report, BCC said it has no capacity to provide the drugs.
The prices of drugs have become too exorbitant for most citizens as pharmacies are charging in foreign currency for most medicines.
The drugs are even more expensive in the local RTGS dollar as pharmacies use forex black market rates to determine how much to charge patients.
BCC said at a recent meeting between the local authority’s technocrats and Community Monitoring Committees (CMCs), the residents’ representatives requested council to consider stocking its clinics with medicines that would be cheaper for residents.
“The Community Monitoring Committees (CMCs) requested that medicines be available in every clinic, so as to reduce costs of buying them from private pharmacies.
“However the Council representative responded and said that this would not be possible because government does not give grants to the City Council, hence the Council no longer affords to do that. There is also the issue of foreign currency which is hard to obtain,” reads the council report.
Local clinics are not the only ones failing to provide medicine for patients, as hospitals are also struggling.
The development has left desperate patients at the mercy of the profiteering pharmacies who are now demanding payments in forex currency for some drugs.
Council also said residents had requested easy access to Pre Exposure Prophylaxis and Post Exposure Prophylaxis to prevent the spread of HIV.
They also asked council to consider constructing maternity clinics in Cowdray Park and Pumula North to improve access to health services.
“However, the response was that this would not be possible because City Council currently has no resources,” reads the report.
— @nqotshili
Online Reporter