Minister must account for ARV shortages
The leaked minutes of a management meeting at one of the Free State's main public hospitals suggest that the province owes medicine suppliers R92 million.
As a consequence, the province is unable to keep hospitals stocked with core medicines such as Anti-Retrovirals (ARVs) and TB medication. The Free State has the second highest transmission rate of HIV in the country and the lowest improvement in TB cure rates, according to the Health Systems Trust's latest District Health Barometer.
People using primary healthcare facilities should never be turned away at the door because the state is unable to provide them with essential medication such as ARVs.
I will tomorrow submit parliamentary questions to establish the facts around the debt owed by the Free State provincial government to medicine suppliers. I will also ask question to determine the extent of the problem country-wide.
If the extent of outstanding debt is as much as the leaked minutes suggest, then Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi needs to urgently account for the situation.
Reports in regional media quote pharmacists at state hospitals in the province as saying that they are unable to place orders for this medication due to a shortage of funds and outstanding bills.
The Free State is one of a handful of provinces that procures medication primarily from a provincial and not a district level according to a recent study on financing in the Health sector. This suggests that ARV and TB medication shortages may be a province-wide problem given that payments need to be made by the provincial Health Department.
The vast majority of people in the Free State who rely on public healthcare to deliver life-saving medication for them deserve answers from the Minister. The Democratic Alliance will use every means available to it to push for a resolution to this situation.
Statement issued by Patricia Kopane MP, DA Shadow Minister of Health, March 4 2012
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