- Govt partners with BPOMAS to rollout chronic medicines
- MoH blames slow drug supply on COVID-19
Interventions to relieve shortage of drugs and medicines across public health facilities are beginning to bear fruit, the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoHW) said in a press statement recently.
“As from the second week of March 2022, the ministry received some vaccines and medications that were in short supply,” the statement, issued by the Chief Public Relations Officer at MoH, Dr. Christopher Nyanga, says. “These included the following under five children immunisations: diphtheria-tetanus vaccine (DT), pentavalent vaccine and measles and rubella (MR) vaccine.” The ministry has also received “some” medications for chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, which are currently being distributed to health facilities across the country.
The statement discloses that the government has partnered with the Botswana Public Officers Medical Aid Scheme (BPOMAS) to augment shortage of medicines for chronic diseases. “The chronic medicine dispensing programme which is implemented in partnership BPOMAS, has been successfully rolled out to six more areas, namely Molepolole, Lobatse, Mahalapye, Palapye, Serowe and Selibe-Phikwe,” Dr Nyanga says in the statement, adding that the rollout is being extended to Maun.
“The ministry assures the public that it is fully aware of what they have been going through in relation to drug shortages and anticipates the situation to keep improving as more drugs and medications procured continue to arrive.” The statement notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down global drug production “as well as the supply chain logistical flow”.
