DRUGS SHORTAGE IS POLITICAL – ZMMSA

…Dr Anna Chifungula, the board chairperson reveals

that politics frustrated ZAMSA procurement of medicines

as some government officials did not want certain traditional

suppliers with capacity to be engaged in the supply chain

By LUCY PHIRI

ZAMBIA suffered from critical and persistent shortage of essential medicines and other medical supplies because of political interference in the procurement process, the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) has disclosed.

And ZAMMSA has said the report on the persistent shortage of drugs in hospitals by the Parliamentary Committee which was constituted by the Speaker of the National Assembly was a good report .

The Minister of Health Ms Sylvia Masebo denounced the report Meanwhile ZAMMSA has dismissed media reports that the Honeybee drugs that were distributed in some parts of the country were expired. Dr Anna Chifungula, the

ZAMMSA board chairperson says the agency was not allowed to procure medicines and other medical supplies from suppliers which were considered not be in good standing with the new dawn administration. She said the shortage of medicines in hospital had become so dire that ZAMMSA was at some point compelled to request that office of the President officials should be involved to help guide which companies should be contracted to supply and deliver drugs. Dr Chifungula said the report by the Parliamentary committee on the availability of drugs was very good and the board actually adopted it. She was speaking at Diamond TV COASTA Show on Sunday. Dr Chifungula said when they took over there were some suppliers that were not in good standing and there were some directives to deal with some of them. When asked the basis on which some of the suppliers were being removed and whether it was because of political reasons or lack of capacity, Dr. Chifungula explained that both politics and capacity had contributed to the failure by the agency to procure the drugs on time.

She said whereas capacity to supply had been the issue, politics had played a major in the inability to have drugs procured, causing serious shortage of medicines in hospitals. “We were being told not to deal with that one and that one to an extent that we had to request for some office of the President officials to help us pick which one we can deal with or not. When the

new administration came in, they had their own issues with suppliers. It some kind of shaky passed with the traditional suppliers of medicines. So, we reached an extent that the contract could not be awarded to that company or the other,” Dr Chifungula said. And Dr Chifungula disclosed that the report on the availability of drugs that was done by the parliamentary committee was good and ZAMMSA had adopted it and helped the agency put some things in place. Dr Chifungula said the only problem was that the report claimed that there were no medicines instead of saying that the drugs were available but not in adequate stocks. She said what ZAMMSA did when they took office was to make sure that all the goods

that were expired and those that were about to expire amounting to about K600 million were safe guarded by making them beyond reach.

This article is supported with the WAN IFRA Women In News (WIN) Social Impact Reporting Initiative (SIRI). Gender equality, diversity and inclusion ( GEDI) Information in this article does not reflect the views of WAN IFRA Women In News.