Latest update February 1st, 2025 5:00 AM
Opposition to challenge Dr Norton on persistent drug shortage
Even though there have been denials by some health facilities that there is no shortage of drugs, the political opposition which contends otherwise will be highlighting the issue at the May 12 sitting of the National Assembly.
Public Health Minister, Dr. George Norton
A motion to this effect will be brought by Opposition Member, Dr. Frank Anthony. The motion notes that Article 24 of the Constitution guarantees the right of every citizen to free medical attention as one of the fundamental rights.
It says that the Ministry of Public Health is responsible for ensuring that citizens have access to medicines and medical supplies in sufficient quality and quantity on a timely manner to ensure access to health care is a right and not a privilege granted by the government.
In his motion, Dr Anthony recalled that the National Assembly appropriated $5.19B in the 2015 Budget and tripled the allocation to $19B in the 2016 Budget, current and capital, for the Ministry of Public Health of which approximately $5B has been allocated in 2016 for the procurement and distribution of medicines and medical supplies to all hospitals, health centres and health posts in Guyana.
He states in his motion that the Ministry of Public Health has admitted that more than $600M of the appropriated allocation for medicines and medical supplies were not utilized in 2015.
The Opposition member recalled that the shortages countrywide of basic and essential drugs and medical supplies were raised in the House. He said that calls for urgent action to be taken were made by several Opposition Members of Parliament during the examination of the Estimates of the 2016 Budget.
Opposition Member, Dr. Frank Anthony
His motion notes that at present, there appears to have been no response to this growing crisis with no procurement of large quantities of these medicines and medical supplies dating back to the latter half of 2015, despite on-going and persistent reports of the shortages of medicines, including basic and essential drugs, reagents and x-ray supplies across the country.
He also contends that shortages are most noticeable at the country’s tertiary care and referral hospital, the Georgetown Public Hospital, where $2.8B of its $7.2B 2016 budgetary allocation is for the procurement of medicines and medical supplies.
Dr. Anthony is of the view that this is reaching crisis levels putting thousands of people’s lives at risk as the Ministry and Government continues to drag its feet and take no emergency interventions to correct the situation,
The Opposition Member will be calling on the National Assembly to have the Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton, launch an immediate investigation into which drugs and medical supplies are not in supply and those that are in short supply in the public health care delivery system.
He wants Dr. Norton to report within one month to the National Assembly on which drugs and medical supplies are in short supply or non-existent and the reasons for the shortages of drugs in the public health care delivery system.
The Parliamentarian will also be making a request for the Public Health Minister to say what measures have been, and are being taken, to rectify this ongoing crisis, the projected timelines for an improvement in the delivery and access to these medicines and medical supplies in the public health care delivery system across the country.
He believes that the National Assembly should also receive a report on the budgetary implications of these emergency measures, if any; and the measures the Minister has put in place to prevent such a recurrence.
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