Govt Sources Drugs For Hospitals As Pharmacies Demand US Dollar Payments
18 November 2018
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Correspondent|SHORTAGE of drugs and the move by pharmacies to decline electronic transfers preferring United States (US) dollars is set to persist as government is yet to thrush out an immediate solution to the crisis, Health and Child Care minister Obadiah Moyo has said.

This comes as Zimbabwe’s government has reached out to a wide array of well-wishers to avert disaster amid an increase in fatalities as ordinary citizens’ struggle to get the greenback to buy essential drugs.

Chief among the country’s well-wishers is Vice president of India Venkaiah Naidu who has pledged to provide 100 tonnes of drugs.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has also engaged the World Health Organisation (WHO) to provide relief as the “situation has become an emergency.”

WHO recently assisted the southern African nation with $3 million during the cholera outbreak

“This issue of selling drugs in United States dollars, it is an issue which is also troubling us as a ministry, because we were thinking that all the pharmacies should sell their drugs with the currency which is readily available,” Moyo told Senators on Thursday.

“The money which is out of supply is United States dollars, so it does not help that the currency that is not available is the one that they are asking people to pay. Moreover, for that foreign currency to be found, it is very difficult. Our relatives in the rural areas cannot afford those drugs because they cannot get hold of the United States dollars.”

Moyo appealed to pharmacies to accept the bond notes, electronic transfers and medical aid cards.

“As of now, the RBZ does not have enough United States dollars but we are also pleading with them that from the few United States dollars that they have, they should watch closely those whom they give the money – whether they are using that money for drugs or they divert it for other uses,” said the former Chitungwiza Hospital chief executive officer.

Moyo said government was committed to resourcing the industry and the Reserve Bank of ZImbabwe has, been releasing what it can to the pharmaceutical industry.

He added that Cabinet had set up a committee to investigate on how foreign currency is being used.

He insisted that the ultimate solution is for Zimbabwe to manufacture its own drugs.

“From the allocation we are going to get, we will buy raw materials to give CAPS and Datlabs for them to manufacture drugs; they will account for the money that they will be given. After they manufacture, we will send those drugs to National Pharmaceutical Company (NatPharm). NatPharm does not have enough drugs in their warehouses as of now. We told NatPharm that we want to do a re-stocking exercise. We want to fill their warehouse with drugs,” he said

“We have also engaged the World Health Organisation (WHO), they helped us during the cholera outbreak. They gave us drugs worth $3 million, now they are also helping us. They are in their meetings because we told them that it is now an emergency in Zimbabwe. Yesterday I was with the Head of WHO in Zimbabwe and he sends a message to their Headquarters in Congo. We have also engaged their Director General who is in Geneva, I met him when I went for a meeting and he has understood that and they also want to help us. Their hearts are pure when it comes to helping Zimbabwe.”

Moyo said arresting owners of pharmacies who are charging in United States dollars was not the solution.

He could not however proffer an immediate solution.

“As a ministry, we have engaged the ministry of Justice and the ministry of Finance. I think you saw what happened on the fuel crisis, some garages had their licences revoked. We also contemplate doing the same but we have to be wise on that and we do want pharmacies to complain that we have revoked their licences because of US dollars. On the other hand we are saying US dollar is another currency which we can use to trade in Zimbabwe. We have engaged the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Finance on the way forward,” he said.

Health stakeholders have been calling on government to move swiftly to curb the parallel market in order to bring sanity back to the medical industry and avoid distortions in the pricing of services and medicines.

The supply chain for medicines has a number of players that is manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers and has been operating at below optimum levels with credit facilities withdrawn due to unavailability of forex to pay for prior orders.

Sections of desperate Zimbabweans have since turned to medicines from the street or online vendors, which are cheap but harmfull as most would not have undergone the quality product assessment by the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe.

M&T