Dept monitoring medical supplies

ACTION is being taken to prevent the shortage of life-saving drugs in hospitals and other facilities, Health and HIV/AIDS Minister Sir Puka Temu says.
Sir Puka, pictured, told The National that his priority for the year was to ensure health facilities did not run short of drugs.
With the current stock in hospitals and drug stores, he said: “We should be sufficiently covered until April.
“I’m putting a system in place to ensure all the four area stores have adequate stocks.
“The system will enable logistic companies to report to me on the distribution status every month region by region and facility by facility.
“This will demand timely release of funds to procure on time and that is six months in advance with a buffer stock.”
Provincial hospitals around the country contacted by The National said drug shortage was not an issue at present although it was a few months ago.
Meanwhile, a doctor who was on leave back at his village about a two-hour drive from Kavieng town, New Ireland, said aid posts and health centres there had run out of common drugs and injection materials.
He said patients were going to district and provincial hospitals for treatment.