Medical specialists at public hospitals are disputing health minister Esperance Luvindao’s claims that medicine stock levels have improved.
The doctors, who have spoken to The Namibian on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, claim critical shortages continue to affect patient care across several departments.
The Ministry of Health and Social Services on Sunday said national pharmaceutical stock levels currently stand at an estimated 60%.
Medical specialists, however, say the ministry’s reported improvement in medicine availability does not reflect conditions on the ground.
“One cannot claim a 60% stock level while patients are still being sent home without lifesaving medication.
“Basic medication like vitamin K, which is used for newborns in the thigh shortly after birth to provide immediate and long-lasting protection against a life-threatening bleeding disorder, is running short,” one doctor says.
Another specialist says staff members are “frustrated and demoralised” by ongoing shortages.
“We are the ones facing patients every day. As we speak there is no Almodipine and Enalapril, a prescription combination medication used primarily to treat hypertension.
“We are forced to explain why treatment cannot continue or why surgeries may be delayed because there is no medication,” the doctor says.
“The situation has never been as out of hand as it is now. If president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is serious about her nation, she should request a meeting with us to see the reality on the ground,” the doctor says.
His claims come as Nandi-Ndaitwah is expected to visit the FabuPharm pharmaceutical manufacturing facility at Otjiwarongo today.
According to a notice issued yesterday, the visit is scheduled to take place at 12h00.
The doctors say there may be improvements in some areas, but there are still critical medicines unavailable.
“As we speak, we have cancelled all the operations on the list of the paediatric ward because there is no neostigmine, which is a synthetic cholinesterase inhibitor medication primarily used in anaesthesia. You cannot measure success while departments are unable to function normally,” another doctor says.
‘SOME HIGH, SOME LOW’
In response to the allegations, executive director of health and social services Penda Ithindi yesterday said the ministry’s stock service level rate is based on the percentage of available stock compared to health facilities’ demand.
“The stock service level rate is available stock as a percentage of demand by facilities. It’s average – some products could be high and others low,” he said.
Ithindi said ministry staff who wish to verify the figures could do so through the Central Medical Stores.
“Several lines of products that are low or stock out do not invalidate others that are high and above demand,” he said.
Recently, The Namibian reported that shortages of essential chronic medication for hypertension, diabetes and ophthalmology at Windhoek Central Hospital could result in the suspension of surgeries and put patients at risk of permanent blindness.
Letters written to the Ministry of Health and Social Services by health professionals and concerned members of the public, which The Namibian has seen, highlight shortages of several crucial medications for hypertension and ophthalmology.
The authors of the letters are appealing to the ministry to urgently address chronic medicine shortages affecting patients at public hospitals and clinics.
In one leaked letter addressed to Windhoek Central Hospital medical superintendent Dr Shitaleni Herman, an ophthalmologist warns that the department could not continue some services due to medicine shortages.
“These three medications are the bare basics we need to treat sight threatening glaucoma and to treat the temporary increase in intra-ocular pressure in post-op or in uveitis patients,” the doctor writes.
The letter says medications such as Bimatoprost, Timolol (Ganforte), Brimonodine 2% (Alphagan) and Dorzolamide are unavailable.
“Currently, we have none of these three medications available. We cannot function as an eye clinic without these, and we cannot safely continue with cataract operations without these,” the doctor says.
The ophthalmologist also warns that shortages of post-operative medication such as Maxitrol meant cataract surgeries could not continue safely.
The letter further says Atropine 1% had been unavailable for at least five months, delaying diagnosis and treatment for children with eye conditions and increasing the risk of permanent complications.
The doctor also raises concerns over growing ophthalmic complications among diabetic and hypertensive patients whose conditions have not been controlled because of regular medicine shortages.
