Health and local authorities in Aweil East County of Northern Bahr el Ghazal State on Wednesday confiscated government-branded medical supplies from private pharmacies and clinics.
The county’s Health Director, Dr. Riing Yak speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Wednesday explained that the crackdown is part of a routine to bring back the supplies to government health centres.
“This is a normal routine that we normally do after three to six months. We confiscate all the government medicines that are being sold at private shops, pharmacies and clinics or private businesses and return them to the government warehouses and then redistribute them to public health facilities,” said Dr. Yak.
Among the confiscated supplies were antimalarial and antibiotic medicines and nutrition items.
Kuol Manyang Diing, the Director for Primary Health Care at the health ministry said all government medical supplies are not for sale. He revealed that an investigation committee was formed to curb the mismanagement of government medical supplies.
“The government medical supplies, they are not to be sold at private pharmacies and I recall that there was a committee formed in January and assessed all pharmacies that sell the government products, and they were warned,” he added.
A resident of Aweil East lauded the move saying patients are suffering at government health centers due to a lack of medicines.
“The government has a right to confiscate the quantities because the staff should not smuggle the medicines to private businesses. People are now suffering from malaria and are only given papers to go to private pharmacies,” said Deng.