Anti Corruption Commission Unleashes Operation To Curb Theft Of Drugs And Medicines From Hospitals
20 January 2020
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Patients collecting drugs at a government hospital

State Media|The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) is now monitoring public hospitals and clinics to curb thefts and ensure drugs are not diverted to the black market. This follows checks that were done at the country’s drug procurement and supply entity, the National Pharmaceutical Company (Natpharm).

The Government has been making strenuous efforts to supply medicines to public hospitals and clinics, but there were suspicions that some of the drugs were being diverted to the black market.

Through its Prevention and Corporate Governance Unit, ZACC is targeting Parirenyatwa, Chitungwiza and Sally Mugabe (formerly Harare Central) hospitals, among other public hospitals and clinics.

In a statement at the weekend, the commission said the operation was an extension of ongoing Natpharm compliance checks on drugs.

“The objective of the operation is to ensure that there are no leakages and abuse in the distribution of drugs to hospitals,” said ZACC.

“The operation is meant to bring sanity to hospitals and improve service delivery and stamp out corruption that has seen patients in some parts of the country being made to pay huge amounts of money for drugs which are sourced by Government funds or donated by the Global Fund, WHO and other international partners.

“The compliance unit is tracking the path of distribution of such drugs from the time they leave Natpharm until the drugs are administered to patients.”

ZACC said it was testing the effectiveness and reliability of the distribution system to ensure that it was not open to abuse.

Some health workers, it said, were being found selling essential drugs which were in short supply in formal channels.

“Some doctors are prescribing alternative drugs which are not in stock and refer patients to their pharmacies where sometimes patients are forced to pay exorbitant prices in US dollars,” said ZACC.

Other areas to be covered by the operation include disposal of expired drugs which are being sold on the streets.

ZACC is seeking to have the hospitals adopt electronic systems of drugs storage and administration to avoid the manipulation and abuse of the stock card system.

According to the Head of the Operation, Mrs Clara Nyakotyo, a similar operation has been conducted in provincial, district and mission hospitals in Mashonaland Central and Manicaland provinces.

There are Government plans to capacitate local pharmaceutical manufacturers, establish more manufacturing plants, including toll manufacturing and bonded warehouses, to improve availability and affordability of medicines and medical sundries in both the public and private sector.