PESHAWAR: Health department has sought Rs9 billion from government to purchase medicines for public sector hospitals of the province.

In a letter, the director general health services (DGHS) has said that the department faces acute shortage of emergency medicines, anti-rabies vaccine, immunoglobulin and other essential items in the province. He has requested the government for provision of Rs9 billion to make procurement for the year 2024 and pay the last year’s pending liabilities of Rs2.674 billion to suppliers.

He feared that non-release of the requested amount could lead to lack of medicines for emergencies and subsequent public backlash. Therefore, the funds should be available the soonest, he added.

The issue of unpaid amount remains unresolved, and addressing and settling these financial obligations are crucial for the smooth functioning of the department.

The director general health said that addressing critical shortage of essential medicines and meeting the needs of district hospitals, an assessment was conducted that showed that Rs9 billion was required for the purpose.

DG fears law and order situation owing to shortage of essential items in health facilities

He said that keeping in view the current financial crunch, the need assessment was critically rationalised and it was concluded that an additional budget of Rs6 billion was required for the new year in addition to Rs2.67 billion for pending liabilities and procurement of essential medicines.

The letter said that timely procurement and distribution of essential medicines to hospitals were imperative to prevent potential disruptions that could lead to law and order challenges.

The office of director general health notified a list of medicine coordination committee (MCC) in September 2023 and so far purchase order has not been placed to the vendors for supply of medicines due to shortage of funds. It is pertinent to mention that after placement of order, the vendor needs 30 to 90 days for supply of medicines and other commodities.

According to it, an additional 10 to 20 days are required for sampling and testing of medicines at Drug Testing Laboratory (DTL) before its procurement and sending it to hospitals for patients.

To prevent complete stock out of medicines in emergency wards of hospitals and other in-patient units, it is important for director general health to place supply orders immediately with availability of sufficient budget to cater to the needs of hospitals across the province.

The letter said that in case of any further delay there might be compromised management of emergencies and suffering of people owing to non-availability of lifesaving vaccines like anti-rabies vaccine and anti-snake venom etc.

“The matter has been made more compounded by the pending liabilities, which is leading to denial by vendors to accept new supply orders for procurement of medicines, pleading that the manufacturers have refused to entertain new orders until the previous liabilities are cleared,” it said.

The situation is taking health department to an embarrassing situation and suffering of people as well.

During the fiscal years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, a total amount of Rs6.155 billion was de-punched that led to liabilities and disruption to execution of the planned procurement of medicines. It made acute shortage of medicines in all primary and secondary care hospitals in all districts across the province.

The director general health requested the government that release of funds was crucial to effectively address the critical shortage of essential medicines prevalent across the province. The department has to pursue the laid down process of the medicines and even if the amount is released within couple of days, it can take at least two months to get supplies.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2024