‘There Are No Medicines in Hospitals’—Health Minister Promises Supplies This Week

BLANTYRE — A patient arriving at a public hospital in Malawi today could be prescribed medicine that the facility does not have.

The government says that should change this week.

Health Minister Madalitso Baloyi acknowledged the severity of the shortage on Monday, saying some public hospitals do not even have Panadol.

“There are no medicines in hospitals, even Panadol is not there,” Baloyi told journalists in Blantyre.

She was speaking after visiting two local pharmaceutical manufacturers, Pharmanova and Crown Pharmaceuticals, as the government seeks to address the medicines crisis.

“This week we are going to have medicines in hospitals,” Baloyi said.

But her admission comes with an uncomfortable detail.

At Pharmanova, Baloyi said she had seen Panadol in the company’s warehouses and that the manufacturer had the capacity to produce more than 900 million units of amoxicillin.

Health Minister Madalitso Baloyi inspects medicines at Pharmanova in Blantyre on Monday amid a shortage of essential drugs in public hospitals.

So, while patients are being told that medicines are unavailable in public hospitals, the government says medicines are available locally and manufacturers have the capacity to produce more.

The Central Medical Stores Trust says the problem is partly linked to access to foreign exchange and financing.

Chief executive officer Dr Moses Chisale said the Trust was engaging the Reserve Bank of Malawi, commercial banks and Treasury to secure foreign exchange. He said CMST was also asking local manufacturers to increase production and supplies.

But for a patient in Chilomo in Nsanje or Misuku in Chitipa, the crisis is less complicated.

They need medicine.

If the hospital has it, they receive treatment. If it does not, they may have to leave without it or find money to buy it elsewhere.

That is why the minister’s promise that medicines will reach hospitals this week will be closely watched.

For patients, the government’s response will not be measured by meetings with banks, manufacturers or officials.

It will be measured by whether the medicine is waiting for them when they reach the hospital pharmacy.