BY SIFISO NHLABATSI
MBABANE – Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini says government has made significant progress in restoring the availability of medicines in public health facilities, with drug availability increasing from about 30 percent when his administration assumed office to more than 90 percent in recent months.
Speaking during an interview with Eswatini Positive News Managing Editor Mbongeni Ndlela, the Prime Minister said improving access to essential medicines had been one of government’s immediate priorities after taking office, following widespread concerns raised by emaSwati.
Dlamini said when His Majesty King Mswati III appointed the current administration at Esibayeni, government listened carefully to concerns raised by citizens and used those submissions to formulate the Grand Plan for National Transformation, which is now under implementation.
He explained that the concerns raised by the public were grouped into three broad areas, namely economic growth, governance and social development, with the health sector emerging as one of the areas requiring urgent intervention.
“The health sector was in a bad state. There was a shortage of drugs which even resulted in industrial action. The availability of medicines was around 30 percent, but a couple of months ago we surpassed 90 percent,” said Dlamini.
He said Parliament also raised concerns over medicine shortages, prompting his office to convene the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Public Service and Ministry of Finance to coordinate interventions aimed at improving procurement and distribution of medicines.
According to the Prime Minister, the collaborative approach ensured government institutions worked together instead of operating in isolation, allowing critical decisions to be implemented more efficiently.
He said one of the key outcomes of those engagements was Cabinet’s approval of legislation establishing the Eswatini Medical Supplies Agency (EMSA), which will oversee the procurement and distribution of medicines and medical supplies nationwide.
Dlamini noted that the EMSA Board has already been appointed and has been mandated to oversee the transformation of the Central Medical Stores into the Eswatini Medical Supplies Agency.
He said the institutional reforms were intended to eliminate longstanding weaknesses within the country’s medicine supply chain, including recurring stock-outs, procurement delays and inefficiencies in distributing essential medicines to health facilities.
“The Ministry of Health has been actively addressing medicine availability through improved stock replenishment and strengthening supply chain management measures. We are not saying we could not have done better, but our priorities have not changed. We want sufficient medicines in all hospitals,” he said.
The Prime Minister described the establishment of EMSA as a major institutional reform that would create a more efficient, responsive and sustainable national medical supply system capable of ensuring the timely and consistent availability of medicines throughout the country.
He said government remained committed to ensuring that health facilities were adequately supplied while broader reforms within the health sector continued.
While acknowledging the progress already made, Dlamini stressed that government would continue strengthening systems responsible for medicine procurement and distribution to prevent the country from returning to the shortages experienced previously.
He said improving healthcare delivery formed part of government’s broader Programme of Action under the Grand Plan, which seeks to improve service delivery while responding to the concerns raised by citizens.
The Prime Minister said although government had made encouraging progress in restoring medicine availability, efforts would continue to ensure that every public health facility maintained adequate stocks of essential medicines.
He added that the reforms being implemented today were intended to create a health system capable of consistently serving the needs of emaSwati rather than responding only after shortages had already developed.
Dlamini said government would remain focused on ensuring that the gains achieved in medicine availability were sustained as implementation of the Grand Plan continues across all sectors.
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(Courtesy Pic)
