Yei River County health department has this Monday revived its Drug Management Committee.
The committee was formed before the 2016 crisis. However, due to the conflict that ensued, most members of the committee fled the country and sought refuge in neighbouring Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It aimed to address the problem of expired drugs being sold in the market, enhance efficient supply of approved drugs to health facilities and fix the issue of misuse of drugs supplied by the government. There have been cases of drugs supplied by the government ending up in private health facilities.
Speaking during the event, the county health department storekeeper, Malish Gordon, says the department will only supply drugs to health facilities that have an agreement with the government. There are currently only seven (7) health facilities that are directly supported with drugs from the government.
“We don’t rotate drugs to non-supported health facilities because these drugs are coming to only government-supported facilities like in Yei, we only have seven government-supported facilities; the main hospital, Martha PHCC, Bakhita PHCC, Mugwo PHCC, Goja, Pisak and Minyori. These are the only government-supported facilities. Because some of these drugs come in large quantities, we also take to those non-supported facilities that are still open in other payams,” Malish explained.
Malish shared that due to insecurity, health facilities have had to shut down because, during times of insecurity, these facilities were ransacked by armed groups.
County Health Department director Michael Lugala has called on health facilities without adequate registration in the county to acquire all documents. He says proper documentation of partner health services providers eases the supervisory work of his department.
“Sometimes, my team come and supervise facilities. These facilities do not belong to NGOs, but they belong to the government. NGOs only give support. Some County staff say they are employees of NGOs. However, any staff that are recommended to work with the NGO must be appointed. The reason is that NGOs have projects that are not permanent. What will happen these staff of NGOs when the projects stop? Everybody must be appointed. We have started collecting and sending documents to the State so that they can be sent to Public Service for an appointment,” Lugala explained.
Meanwhile, the Executive director of Yei River County, Ezbon Gale, has pointed out that people are complaining about the lack of specific drugs in the hospital. However, these drugs are later found in private clinics, he said. Gale explained that this situation raises questions about the work of the Drug Management Committee.
“Our masses have been complaining. Some are refusing to come to the hospital because if they come here, they are told to go to clinics. The same drugs they buy at clinics are the same ones on the list of drugs that are being discarded. This makes us to raise some questions. Either we are doing our work as a team or we are not doing our work as required,” Gale stated.
He added that there is a clear separation of powers between the work of the Drug Management Committee and the Office of the Executive Director.
“Much as the Drug Management Committee is in charge of overseeing the supplies, any supply that has come, the office of the Executive director should be briefed about it so that we have to know what is brought into this hospital so that we can regulate and monitor. And indeed, in our previous time, in our inspection as a government, we intercepted government drugs in the market, and I am happy that its part of the work of this committee. They should ensure that these cases are minimized so that drugs go to their rightful use,” Gale suggested.
The action by the government of Yei River County to revive the Drug Management Committee will ensure that expired drugs are not sold to the public but destroyed as required by law. It will also promote the supply of drugs to the designed health facilities. This initiative will also create awareness among all stakeholders about decisions to discard expired drugs.