Gwanda hospital which is a provincial referral centre for Matabeleland South has been operating without a qualified pharmacist for close to 10 years, according to a Parliamentary report compiled by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The report indicated that the primary care nurses were responsible for dispensing drugs to patients, a situation which had compromised quality health service delivery at most hospitals in the province.
A source at the hospital told The Zimbabwean On Thursday that the drugs had been accumulating since 2000. Most drugs were donated and had a short life span and the hospital had to dispose them because there were no pharmacy personnel to manage the drug stocks. Its sad that some people in the villages are failing to access drugs while stockpiles are expiring here, said the source that declined to be named.
Most hospitals in the country are being run by skeletal staff after qualified human resources migrated to neighbouring countries such as Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique in search for greener pastures.
Post published in: News