Tshwane clinics share medicines amid stock outs

Stimulants like Ritalin have side effects, including anxiety, agitation, sleeplessness and headaches

pharma-drugsHealth workers at Maria Rantho, KT Motubatse and other Soshanguve clinics are complaining that incorrectly filled orders from the regional pharmacy have forced clinics to share medicines among themselves.

A health worker* at Maria Rantho Clinic claims that incorrectly filled orders have become a recurring problem and have resulted in shortages at clinics.

“Regional pharmacy is the one with problem and believe me we are running short of Panado tablets now,” she told OurHealth.

A pharmacist* at one of the affected clinics claimed that the health facility was forced to borrow 150 packets of Panado from Soshanguve Block TT Clinic after the regional pharmacy only delivered 200 of the 1500 packets ordered last month.

Just last week, the civil society Stop Stock Outs reported shortages of antiretorvirals at Pretoria’s Steve Biko Academic Hospital.

Staff* at KT Motubatse Clinic said they have experienced minimal shortages due to the persistence of the clinic’s pharmacist, who they said “engaged fearlessly” with suppliers.

Tshwane District of Health pharmacy personnel agreed that there are sometimes problems with medicines delivery to clinics, but argued that problems stemmed from clinics’ late orders. They added that clinics also sometimes fail to place emergency orders that allow the regional pharmacy to respond to medicine shortages.

*Names have been withheld to protect health workers from victimisation

Author

Free to Share

Creative Commons License

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.


Related

Tshwane community spends months with busted sewer

Residents of Soshanguve Block HH north of Pretoria say that they have been living with a spurting, stinking busted sewer. Some residents say they believe local government has ignored their repeated complaints because they do not pay rates.

Read More »

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay in the loop

We love that you love visiting our site. Our content is free, but to continue reading, please register.

Newsletter Subscription