.LUNGU

PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has obviously taken a hardline stance on the continued pilfering of drugs in the country’s health institutions by advising health authorities to ‘borrow’ his powers if the Ministry of Health does not have ‘powers’.
After 50 years of independence, the issue of drug shortages triggered mostly by pilfering should not be allowed to derail the health delivery system in Zambia.
The country has come a long way for the patients to continue facing the challenge of accessing drugs they so badly need.
Availability of essential drugs in hospitals should not be debatable, for this is crucial for treating and healing patients, and thus keeping them healthy.
The health sector is vital to guarantee a productive population that can ably partake in Zambia’s strides to keep the wheels of the economy turning.
Drugs are purchased at high cost and should not be dispensed to the disadvantage of the sick persons who need them most with a view to ensuring a healthy population.
It is, therefore, saddening that drug pilfering has continued and, worse, all this at a time when heavy investment is being made into the construction of several health posts and recruitment of health personnel to provide the needed health services in various districts of the country.
It will be frustrating if all these well-intended efforts fail to meet expected results just because of some selfish individuals causing artificial drug shortages.
In issuing his directive to curb drug shortages, President Lungu also directed Health Minister Joseph Kasonde to thoroughly probe the matter so that acts of incompetence in the distribution chain involving medicines are rooted out and culprits made to face the law.
Several factors come into play in unearthing this scam perpetrated by unknown persons. Close monitoring of the distribution chain of medicines is cardinal to guarantee the smooth and even distribution of drugs and decentralising the operations of Medical Stores Limited (MSL), which is based in Lusaka.
In any case, MSL insists it has adequate medicines and news of shortages in some hospitals and clinics has come as a shock.
We have equally noted with concern that on some occasions, drugs at the MSL have been destroyed because they have expired. Sadly this happens when in other centres, there is an acute shortage of the same drugs.
One would wonder how drugs can be destroyed when, at the same time, some clinics have a shortage. This simply means that drugs were not delivered to some centres.
The starting point in an effort to resolve this teething issue is to check whether transport for the drugs is adequate and if not, find ways to address the inadequacies in the transportation of drugs.
It is commendable to note that distribution hubs have been established in some towns such as Mansa, Chipata and Luanshya but this process also needs to be expedited to full-scale sooner rather than later.
While pondering the issues of MSL’s decentralisation, emphasis should also be directed at equipping the company with adequate transport. By any measure the rural areas will always be the hardest-hit should distribution of drugs remain a challenge.
Once the MSL does not deliver medicines or faces challenges to reach some destinations on time, then it is without doubt that the affected heath centres will have a much bigger challenge of even thinking about making their own logistics to travel to Lusaka to collect their own allocation.
Of course currently the biggest problem dogging many health institutions is drug pilfering which, as President Lungu rightly says, should come to an end as it is proving costly to the Government which is doing everything possible to put things in order in the health sector.
So individuals involved in illegal drug management should be made to account for their actions while the distribution chain needs to be closely monitored, and transport challenges facing the MSL be addressed.
Healthcare is no doubt an important aspect in the promotion of the general physical and mental health as well as the general well-being of people.
This is because human beings are the ones that drive economies, hence the President’s concern should not just be seen at face-value but must be taken with the seriousness it deserves. The Head of State is showing his passion towards the well-being of his people.  OPINION