Minister must account for ARV shortages
The leaked minutes of a management meeting at one of the Free State's main public hospitals suggest that the province owes medicine suppliers R92 million.
As a consequence, the province is unable to keep hospitals stocked with core medicines such as Anti-Retrovirals (ARVs) and TB medication. The Free State has the second highest transmission rate of HIV in the country and the lowest improvement in TB cure rates, according to the Health Systems Trust's latest District Health Barometer.
People using primary healthcare facilities should never be turned away at the door because the state is unable to provide them with essential medication such as ARVs.
I will tomorrow submit parliamentary questions to establish the facts around the debt owed by the Free State provincial government to medicine suppliers. I will also ask question to determine the extent of the problem country-wide.
If the extent of outstanding debt is as much as the leaked minutes suggest, then Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi needs to urgently account for the situation.