Kase advises hospitals to stock up on medicine

HEALTH Secretary Pascoe Kase has advised hospitals and provincial health authorities to arrange with the Health Department to store their medicine requirements to avoid any shortages.
Kase was responding to complaints by some hospitals that they were facing medicine shortages again
He warned that there should be regular communications between hospitals, provincial health pharmacies and the medical stores.
Kase said the department had placed orders for medicines in May and June, and if some centres were facing shortages, it was due to the delay in procurement by their pharmacies.
“Our orders are coming into our area medical stores and some are now being sent out to the locations that may be experiencing some shortages. We are also monitoring with our suppliers the remaining supplies and their arrivals in the country,” he said.
Kase said they were communicating regularly with major hospitals regarding their stock levels to ensure that they were restocking in advance. “We got medicine stock in our stores now and more yet to come. Pharmacies in centres facing shortage must communicate with their area medical store and also ensure to place orders on time so that they can restock and avoid a shortage of medicine,” Kase said.