WHY IS THE MEDICAL SUPPLY IN CRISIS?

Abstract

In the past years, the number of both public and private health care providers has increased significantly. Similarly, companies that either produce or import and distribute medical equipments, drugs and supplies became numerous in number. However, there was big discrepancy both in quality and quantity between the health care providers demand and the market supply causing chronic medical equipment, drugs and supplies problem. This unmet drugs and supplies gap has created unmet health care services gap. The problem became worse in the past few months affecting the day to day health care services. Most hospitals stopped radiologic service due to lack of film fixer; delivery services, surgeries and wound care are compromised since there are no guaz and antiseptics like alcohol and iodine; routine laboratory services are compromised due to lack of items like slides and capillary tubes on market. The case of Jimma University Specialized Hospital is even worse due to the load and the fact that it is the only referral hospital in Southwest Ethiopia. The condition forced the hospital to limit available drugs and supplies only to emergency services. As a result of this, the health care service is being affected significantly and avoidable complications and deaths are becoming inevitable. The lack of supplies for routine medical care made me call the current situation ‘CRISIS’. Similar problem affecting mainly reproductive health drugs, was reported in Uganda in 2009 which was attributed to theft and limited funding. In February 2011 acute shortage of drugs and essential medical supplies in public hospitals has been registered, in Kenya. According to a study commissioned by Transparency International-Kenya, the shortage has created a trail of misery for patients across the country. This short communication is not intended to define what ‘crisis’ is or investigate the cause rather trying to show what we are experiencing on our day to day practice and the widening avoidable unmet health services gap. Unless responsible government bodies, specifically Food, Medicine and Health Care Administration and Control Authority of Ethiopia (FMHACA) take practical measures, the problem could get worse. The current issue of EJHS contains seven original articles including three articles on unmet gap and quality of health care services, one on surgical wound infection, one on burden of human schistosomiasis, another one on risk factor of active tuberculosis on HIV/AIDS patients and the other one on bacterial uropathogens.