DA challenges Minister Motsoaledi to come clean on drug stock-outs
18 May 2015
The DA challenges the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, to come clean to the South African public on essential drug stock-outs at hospitals and clinics countrywide once and for all.
If the Minister is at all serious about addressing this problem he will ensure full transparency on the reasons why thousands of South Africans are not getting the healthcare they need and deserve.
According to reports today, essential drug stock-outs are at crisis level due to shortages of certain pharmaceutical ingredients necessary to treat HIV-positive individuals.
I will therefore be writing to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health, Lindelwa Dunjwa, to ask that she request the presence of Minister Motsoaledi to account for this national drug stock-out crisis before the Portfolio Committee.
The stock-outs include: antibiotics, TB medicine, anti-psychotics, anti-retrovirals for adults and children, and drugs to treat high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, epilepsy, constipation, fungal infections and pain.
Minister Motsoaledi, should table a report to the Portfolio Committee on how his department intends to address this matter and how to prevent a drug stock-out in future. If government fails to stock our hospitals and clinics, it is literally putting people’s lives at risk - it cannot be ignored.
The DA believes that quality healthcare is crucial to the well-being and dignity of South Africans. This recent revelation does not bode well for South Africans across the country who do not get the necessary medication they need.
It is, therefore, completely unacceptable that the procurement processes in provinces are bungled due to inept management. Only the DA-run Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Health Departments are getting the basics right by paying their bills to pharmaceutical companies on time.
The DA will work towards ensuring that measures are put in place by Minster Motsoaledi to protect the most vulnerable members in our society and ensure that they timeously receive their medication at state hospitals and clinics.
Statement issued by Dr Wilmot James MP, DA Shadow Minister of Health, May 18 2015
