"Botswana's president has declared a public health emergency due to shortages of essential medicines and equipment, as a downturn in the global diamond market and US aid cuts take a toll on the country's finances. The announcement came after the Ministry of Health suspended non-urgent surgeries on 4 August, stating that the country was short of medicines to treat hypertension, diabetes, cancer, asthma and eye conditions, as well as supplies including bandages and sutures and those for sexual and reproductive health."
"Boko blamed the state procurement agency Central Medical Stores (CMS), which he said in turn blamed middlemen, for ratcheting up drug prices in the southern African country, which has a population of about 2.5 million and is the world's largest diamond producer by value. He said: The current prices often are inflated five to 10 times. And under the current economic conditions, this scenario is not sustainable."
"Thabo Seleke, a University of Botswana lecturer, said the CMS was plagued by dysfunction, inertia, unmet reform pledges and corruption allegations, adding: There have been yearly reports from the auditor-general, which flagged incomplete procurement records, missing contracts and recurrent delivery delays. Also feeding into the problem is the dire state of Botswana's economy and public finances, which contributed to Boko's victory last year."
Botswana declared a public health emergency following suspension of non-urgent surgeries due to shortages of medicines for hypertension, diabetes, cancer, asthma, eye conditions and essential supplies such as bandages, sutures and sexual and reproductive health items. President Duma Boko announced 250m pula in emergency funding and said the military would oversee distribution after the medical supply chain failed. The state procurement agency Central Medical Stores (CMS) was blamed for inflated prices and dysfunction, with CMS quoting 705m pula versus a new taskforce quote under 80m pula. Economic strain from a diamond market downturn and US aid cuts has worsened public finances.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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