By DELPHINE ZULU –

GOVERNMENT has cited poor information flow between managers of health centres and Medical Stores Limited (MSL) as the major cause of drug shortages in the country, Health Minister Joesph Kasonde has said.
Dr Kasonde described the shortage of drugs in some health centres as articificial because those entrusted with the responsibilty of acquiring the drugs for various centres were not communicating with MSL to know whether the drugs were available.
“We proceeded with investigation as directed by the President, our confirmation was that in some centres there was shortages. We found that it was not a single cause in that part of it was poor information flow between Medical Stores Limited and some health institutions,” Dr Kasonde said.
Dr Kasonde said the lack of information flow between the pharmacists and MSL could only be rectified by the introduction of an electroninc communication system to all health centres.
“On the information front, MSL is already in the process of establishing an electronic communication system so that each health centre is informed through the electronic means on a daily basis of what drugs are available,’ he said.
Dr Kasonde has since urged managers to be proactive and ensure that they were alert on the supply of drugs in their localities to avoid the artificial shortages.
Officers tasked to ensure that there was constant supply of drugs lacked initiative of going to Medical Stores to check the availability of the drugs before blowing the trumpet that there was a shortage of drugs.
The minister expected managers of the affected institutions to take action either by going to MSL to go and find out whether they can obtain the drugs or find alternatives from other health centres waiting for their supply.
“I think that if we were to say what was the main cause, it was poor management of the supply of drugs, I emphasise poor management because individuals tasked to charge the responsibility to supply are not taking action, to me that is a management issue,” he said.
Dr Kasonde further said he would not dismiss any other possible causes like erratic financial flow within the public service especially on the payment system for drugs coming into the country through grants to health centres.
“This can be slow and this is a typical issue in all bureacracies and we are looking for ways of how the process of paying for drugs can be fast tracked within our system, as of now we can say that the drugs available should be made availbale,” Dr Kasonde said.