By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Botswana’s President has announced a public health emergency arising from the shortage of medical supplies in hospitals and clinics, saying national medical supply chain had failed.
Duma Boko in implementation of the state of emergency on Monday announced that the military would now oversee an emergency distribution drive, and the first trucks would leave the capital Gaborone and head to remote areas by the evening.
“The medical supply chain as run by central medical stores has failed,” Boko said in a televised address. “This failure has led to a severe disruption to health supplies countrywide.”
The southern African country’s health ministry had in August said it was was running out of medicines and supplies due to unspecified financial challenges, postponing all non-urgent surgery.
But the finance ministry had approved 250 million pula ($17.35 million) in emergency funding for procurement, Boko added.
Botswana is leading producer of diamonds by value. Its budget has been constrained this year due to a prolonged downturn in the global diamond market.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has also cut funding that was supporting Botswana’s health sector.
A spokesperson for Botswana’s government did not immediately respond to questions about whether that had contributed to the crisis.
Boko said on Monday the price at which government procures medical supplies was inflated, and that existing distribution systems were causing loss, waste and damage.
In its statement on Aug. 4, the health ministry said it owed 1 billion pula to private health facilities and suppliers, which was compounding its challenges.
Medicines for hypertension, cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis, eye conditions, asthma, sexual reproductive health and mental health conditions were all running out, it said.
