ZAMMSA must improve drug distribution
WE WELCOME the announcement by the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) that it has distributed 7,000 health centre kits to seven regional hubs for onward distribution to over 3,500 healthcare facilities countrywide. This is commendable.
Typically, this is expected to result in immediate benefits for the citizens through easy access to medicines and medical supplies in clinics, hospitals, health centres and health posts, especially those in remote and rural areas.
However, the opposite is often the case as most Zambians still lack access to medicines and other medical supplies because of drug shortages, and in many situations, there are no medicines at all. This is an extremely concerning issue.
In our opinion, it is pointless to have medicines in the regional hubs when the end users cannot access them at clinics and other healthcare facilities like hospitals. We believe that this undermines the government’s efforts to ensure Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for the country.
According to ZAMMSA corporate communications senior manager Bradley Chingobe, the distribution made the availability levels of health commodities exceeding 90 percent in primary healthcare facilities and 85 percent across other levels of care.
Chingobe said the distribution of health kits reinforced government’s commitment to ensuring uninterrupted supply of essential medicines.
He said the seventh cycle distribution formed part of a 10,000-unit procurement from Mission India.
“The distribution of 7,000 health kits to cover over 3,500 healthcare facilities follows the successful dispatch of the kits from the ZAMMSA Central Warehouse to all seven regional hubs. This initiative is a testament to our dedication to strengthening primary healthcare services and enhancing access to life-saving medicines,” Chingobe said.
He said ZAMMSA remained steadfast in its mission to ensure efficient, transparent and equitable distribution of medical supplies.
In our opinion government, through ZAMMSA, should ensure that there is efficiency in the distribution of drugs from the regional hubs to the hospitals, health centres and clinics to ensure that the people have access to medicines and medical supplies.
Although ZAMMSA claims to have delivered the medications and other requisites to the regional hubs, the beneficiary hospitals and end users do not receive the medications in a timely manner.
We feel it is important for ZAMMSA to go a step further and closely monitor the uptake of medicines and supplies by hospitals and health centres to ensure that the materials reach the intended beneficiaries. Additionally, the government should seal leaks through ZAMMSA to plug thefts along the supply chain. We are of the view that it is also important for the Ministry of Health to take note of the best practices in some developed countries that have developed systems of tracking medicine batches using bar codes from the manufacturers to the final consumers.
We are quite concerned about the fact that people keep complaining about being given prescriptions to buy medicine whenever they go to seek medical attention in public health institutions.
We still remember that in January this year, Health Minister Dr Elijah Muchima talked tough about resolving ZAMMSA’s operational inefficiencies and expediting the delivery of essential medicines.
We are looking forward to hearing what measures Dr Muchima has put in place to “clean up” the system to ensure ZAMMSA, a critical cog in the public service delivery wheel, meets the expectations of the people. It needs all the support it deserves for the benefit if the public.
We are of the view that an efficient ZAMMSA will help to restore public confidence in this important institution that has recently been riddled with corruption allegations and inefficiencies in the drug supply chain.
