The delay by the National Medical Stores (NMS) to deliver medicines and other medical supplies is severely affecting the delivery of services at Masaka Regional Referral Hospital.
The administrators at the hospital say the delay is partly the reason why patients are asked to buy the drugs from elsewhere. They say it breeds what has been described as the internal brokering of medical supplies and cases of extortion within the facility,
Doctor Gonzaga Ssenyondo, the Assistant Hospital Administrator also head of the Maternity Department says the chronic stock-outs of government medical supplies at the facility have led to a lot of public outcry.
He explained that out of the hospital’s annual requisition of 4.5 billion shillings worth of medical suppliers, the government is only meeting a third of this budget estimated at 1.6 billion shillings.
Dr. Ssenyondo said the discrepancy severely affects the patients who he said usually can not afford the cost of medicines on the open market. The health workers also operate without some of the needed items for their personal and patient safety.
Doctor Herbart Kalema, a Consultant Gynecologist at the Hospital said the inadequacy in the delivery of drugs and other medical supplies is tarnishing the image of the hospital.
He indicates that patients have often complained about the health workers and the hospital for failure to satisfy their needs, but the problem has persisted because it cannot be addressed locally.
Dr. Kalema revealed that the Hospital’s administration has formally petitioned the Inspectorate Government, Members of Parliament, and local Service Delivery Audit Committees.
The Deputy Inspector General of the Government, Anne Muhirwe Twinomugisha says that during their service delivery inspection tours in the different parts of the country, the problem of drug stock-out has featured prominently in their reports.
She pledges that the Inspectorate is going to use the reports as a basis to engage the responsible authorities of government to find ways of improving service delivery.
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