JUST IN: Prices for medical drugs to come down

Africa Moyo in KADOMA

There are plans to cut down the involvement of middlemen in the procurement of medical drugs, so as to make the prices affordable, Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Dr John Mangwiro has said.

Dr Mangwiro, who was representing Vice President and Health Minister Constantino Chiwenga, said this today while addressing volunteer community health workers and local rapid response teams for public health support measures against Covid-19 in Kadoma.

“Our medical drugs are expensive that even if someone was to travel to Botswana, spend a night in a hotel and buy the medication, the price remains lower than what someone can buy for in Zimbabwe,” he said.

“We are planning to cut middlemen who just want to line their pockets at the expense of citizens, resulting in prices of medication going up.

“The Government is also working towards the production of more drugs locally.”

Meanwhile, Dr Mangwiro said Government plans to have up to 1 000 volunteer community health workers in the fight against Covid-19.

Already, up to 700 volunteers have been trained covering all the country’s 10 provinces.

The first 200 community health workers were trained in July and a request for more volunteers was filed with Government and immediately granted.

A number of African countries have adopted the use of community health workers to reduce the spread of Covid-19.

Volunteers have previously been used in the fight against HIV.