Georgetown: President Donald Ramotar has blasted the poor management of drug supplies in the public health sector, pointing to the large quantity of expired products that had to be dumped and the periodic shortage of medical supplies to hospitals.
He noted that while the country has come a long way as it relates to health-care services, there are many drawbacks within the sector. Specifically, he mentioned the gratuitous drug wastage in which the Health Ministry indulges that has proven costly to the country’s economy.
“I can’t imagine that we spend billions of dollars to buy the drugs to ensure that our people have access to resources, yet many times, when I go about the country, I am confronted with people telling me they have shortage of drugs,” he noted.
Ramotar stressed that when there is a shortage, the government has to purchase emergency drugs and millions are being written off because expired drugs have to be dumped. “Now that is totally unacceptable!” the president pointed out. He said the Health Ministry is an ancient institution and so by now, it should have better ways of managing its pharmaceutical supplies.
“Don’t we have an idea of how things are used? How they should be purchased?…What is taking place, we have to correct it,” he exclaimed.
The president continued that despite Guyana achieving some of the millennium development goals (MDGs) in different sectors, it is a poor country and cannot afford to be wasting money and its resources in such a manner.
More careful
The president asked those in the health sector to ponder on how much more could be done if these shortages were not prevalent. “Resources are not unlimited and there is a lot of need out there. I think more people should go out into the communities in the interior, into distant places, to have an appreciation of the needs that are there. I think they will be more careful with how they handle some of the government’s resources that are given to them,” he urged.
The president’s concerns came on the heels of constant criticism by the political opposition regarding the delayed process used to procure and distribute drugs countrywide, especially in interior locations.
President Ramotar also touched on the disheartening topic of maternal deaths. He said the medical profession is one which IS strongly rooted in humanitarian convictions, and, as such, he finds it “unacceptable” when he hears of mothers dying.
“The main thing we have to look at is when young people, when young women particularly die, it is a big loss for the country as a whole, for their own development and contributions that they make,” he said.
The president acknowledged that every medical case is unique, but is of the view that the faster persons get medical attention, the healthier they should be.
He then turned his attention to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which he noted is one of the biggest causes of death and illness in Guyana. “These are lifestyle diseases and this is where the ministry has to be more aggressive,” Ramotar stated, adding that a lot of money is spent to fight NCDs.
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