Health Minister worried about people dying in anti-Supra protests

20 April 2018 - 18:36 By Katharine Child
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Aaron Motsoaledi
Aaron Motsoaledi
Image: Supplied

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is glad army doctors and medical personnel have been sent into the North West‚ but is worried that patients who do not get medication could die.

Members of the National Health Education & Allied Workers Union have also stopped work at some clinics as part of a go-slow and‚ in some cases‚ nurses are too afraid of violent protests to go to work.

The minister told TimesLIVE that he was extremely concerned by the lack of access to medicines in the North West.

“The situation is quite bad. First the supply depot was blocked [by striking workers and protesters] so we told pharmaceutical companies to supply the clinics directly. Now at least 21 clinics are closed‚” he said.

"We are worried about people dying [without medicine]. Even if they don’t die‚ they could get serious complications. TB patients who miss medication can acquire drug resistant TB. This can be deadly.”

With not enough staff working at hospitals and clinics‚ Motsoaledi said healthcare workers from the SA National Defence Force had been sent into the province to work. But without medicines‚ the South African Association of Hospital and Institutional Pharmacists (SAAHIP) - a voluntary group of pharmacists - has said doctors and pharmacists were becoming frustrated.

In a statement it said: “The morale of all staff members in the health sector is low. Doctors cannot treat patients and pharmacists are at the front line‚ needing to face the patient's wrath‚ disappointment and fears.”

The association quoted a pharmacist as saying: “We feel the anxiety building in the community as we inform them of the situation‚ with close to no resolution or alternative options for most of them.

"Buying medicines in the private sector is not an option for most of the patients‚" said the statement. A member of the public asked a pharmacist whose father survived a heart attack but needed medicine to keep him alive: "What is the use of saving his life when you cannot assist in preventing it from happening again?"

The association said: “The medicines out of stock range from simple but essential paracetamol for pain to complex medicines for diabetes and heart conditions."

It said pregnant women who developed high blood pressure and could not access medicines were in danger of losing their babies or their lives.

On Thursday‚ Mahumapelo fired suspended health department's HOD‚ Dr Andrew Thabo Lekalakala‚ due to a contract R180-million contract given to Gupta-linked healthcare company Mediosa without going out to tender.

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