Health workers in Akobo on Thursday said that the area faces a shortage of essential drugs including ceftriaxone, benzedrine penicillin, chloramphenicol and others medicines used for treating common diseases in the area.
Director of Health in Akobo East County Elijah Riek Ruaei told Radio Tamazuj that the Akobo hospital normally receives medical supplies from USAID under the Emergency Medicines Funds (EMF) project which supplies limited drugs through the National Ministry of Health.
He noted that before the current crisis the hospital handled about 10-12,000 patients quarterly compared to 25-28,000 patients quarterly this year, attributing this to the high number of conflict-displaced people who have come to the county.
He said the shortage of drugs put patients’ lives at risk and needs urgent response from the donors and drugs suppliers.
Bol Chol, an employee of International Medical Corps (IMC) at Akobo Teaching Hospital, said that the hospital is in need of the drugs to treat the growing number of patients due to the displacement caused by the current conflict, as many internally displaced people came to settle in the area.
A senior employee at IMC who did not want to be named confirmed the shortage of drugs at the IMC-run Akobo Teaching Hospital, saying it was due to logistical problems but affirmed that they are expecting about 400 cartons of different drugs from their Juba base in the next two weeks.
Meanwhile, some sources also reported lack of qualified medical specialists. Samuel Char Mayien, a senior staff at the Akobo Hospital, said the hospital lacks specialists for X-ray, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) programs in the hospital.
For example, Samuel said the position of X-ray technician was repeatedly advertised as a national vacancy by IMC but the position was still not filled. He explained that the organization previously hired experts from St Elizabeth’s Hospital in Uganda, but it is now difficult for Ugandans to come to the SPLM/A-IO controlled area because of Uganda’s role in the current civil war.