By Tina George, Minna
…It will be resolved soon – Health Commissioner
Patients in Minna General Hospital will currently have to buy every prescribed drug outside the hospital as the pharmacy has ran out of drugs, ASHENEWS reports.
Several patients and families of some of the patients who needed to procure drugs from the pharmacy between Thursday and Saturday last week, were unable to but directed to pharmacies outside the hospital.
Some of the patients confirmed the development to our reporter, expressing dismay over their inability to get drugs within the hospital.
They also disclosed that the drugs were cheaper to get in the hospital pharmacy than outside.
Mary Edward told ASHENEWS that she was shocked to hear that all the drugs in the hospital had finished because that had never happened before.
Also, Abdullahi Musa for whose son drugs were prescribed said that the pharmacist could not even look at the prescription drugs confessing that there was no drug available in the pharmacy.
“Even simple cough syrup or paracetamol is not available. That is too bad. I have to go outside to get it”, he said.
When our reporter went to confirm at the pharmacy under the guise of a patient, she got the same response from the officer in charge who said that they had ran out of drugs.
“We have ran out of all drugs in the pharmacy. The pharmacy has no drugs. Even paracetamol or Panadol is not available. Madam, I am sorry, you have to go outside to get your drugs. It is not our fault”, he said.
When ASHENEWS contacted the Niger State Commissioner of Health, Dr Muhammad Makunsidi said that non-availability of drugs in the pharmacy was not a new thing, adding that it could be that a particular brand is not available.
He said that “the patients will need to go back to the doctor to explain that such a drug is not available in the pharmacy; but if the doctor insists, they will need to go outside the hospital to get the drugs.”
Makunsidi also disclosed that the hospital is in a transition period where all funds are domiciled in one account, which could be another reason why drugs may not be available in the hospital pharmacy.
“We are in a transition where all the money is to be domiciled in one account. We want to know what we are generating in the health sector. A lot of internally generated revenue (IGR) have not been captured and this is hitting the state so much.
“So, we want to populate and basket all generation into one account, then the money would be used for what it is meant for. For health, the money will bounce back to the health facilities so that they continue their daily operational activities.
“I don’t think the unavailability of drugs is a major issue; it is something that would be overcome immediately. It is not a new thing; there could be a particular brand of drugs that are prescribed because there are generic and brand names and if it is generic, then it could be an answer to the lack of the drug in the pharmacy”, he explained.
This development is coming shortly after stakeholders in the health sector during the Niger state Open Government Partnership Symposium, advocated for adequate financing to the health sector.
The stakeholders also called on the state government to create a sustainability plan for the funding of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) to harness its gains in the health sector.
