Public Health Ministry tackles Region Seven drugs shortage

Feb 08, 2017 News

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Medication to treat a wide range of complaints hampering ailing Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) residents has been dispatched to the affected area. This is according to information disseminated by Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Public Health, Mr. Terrence Esseboom.
A Region Seven health official during the past week had raised concerns about the shortage of essential drugs at the interior locations of Issano, Kurupung and Isseneru.
However, the shortage of medication was confined to the outlets at those three interior locations and does not reflect a shortage at the central storage facility in the capital, Esseboom asserted yesterday.
He revealed that Ministry of Public Health officials have responded swiftly and have since ensured that Region Seven health sector representatives received their supplies to treat several ailments including hypertension, diabetes, malaria (affecting both adults and children), upset stomach, asthma and other types of physical distresses.
Meanwhile, Esseboom also disclosed yesterday that four other Region Seven communities – Jawalla, Kamarang, Phillipi and Bartica – will receive their supplies of medication by Friday.
Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, had last week disclosed that the Administrative Regions across the country have received 60 percent of their primary drug needs in a drive to address an ongoing drug shortage.
The announcement follows on the heels of reports that the Public Health Minister has embraced moves toward creating a better system to ensure efficiency in the procurement and distribution of drugs to serve the health needs of Guyanese.
In fact the Minister during a recent interview said that as of January 30, 2017, seven out of the 10 Administrative Regions, which were asked to submit a list of drugs needed, were provided with 60 percent of the required drugs. The three other regions had indicated that there were no immediate drug needs, the Minister had indicated.
As the Ministry continues to engage suppliers, it is expected that the remaining 40 percent, though not immediately needed by the regions, would be provided in the coming days, Minister Lawrence had assured.
”We have one of the containers, which arrived last Friday (two Fridays ago) and presently we are taking possession of, so that we can distribute to the various regions. Not many of them would have need for some of the drugs that are here presently.”
”As we speak, we are engaging with suppliers, because we are going to treat it as an emergency, so that we can have those drugs arrive through a quicker process than would be the norm and so our outside date is February 15,” she said.
During a recent tour of the Ministry’s Drug Bond located at Diamond, the Minister found several gaps and loopholes, which she said needed to be addressed.
Among the gaps identified was the shortage of some drugs at the bond.
After the tour, the Minister immediately convened a meeting with her Directors, Permanent Secretary and other officers from the Ministry to begin work on creating short and long term solutions to prevent a recurrence.
At the same time, the Director of Regional Health Services was mandated by Minister Lawrence to make contact with all of the regions across the country to ensure that they were not affected, and to determine their primary drug needs.
The Minister has reportedly started taking steps to facilitate a change in the system, which governs the procurement, storage and distribution of drugs. From engaging suppliers to determining the estimated arrival of shipments and challenges affecting deliveries to completely overhauling the management system, Minister Lawrence said that she is committed to seeing the gaps and loopholes removed from the health sector.
The Ministry, she said, has a lot of work to do, but she is optimistic that it will be achieved.
”We are looking at how data is captured in terms of needs, and to ensure that the averages which are taken for the various drugs across the regions are as accurate as possible, so that we are not ordering short quantities which create a need.
We are seeking to ensure that we fill those vacancies especially with the officers within the various regions whose job requires them to ensure that the register for the drugs in stock, usage and balance are done in a timely manner, and that information is forwarded to the Secretariat in a timely manner.
”We are also going to look at the system. It is still a paper system and too many papers are shuffling around the place…we are going to work with our partners to ensure that we review the present system and have an electronic system put in place so that the connection is there,” she said.

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