No shortage of drugs at GPHC - as media operatives tour pharmacy bond

Written by GINA Editor, Published in Ministry of Public Health, Georgetown, GINA, April 18, 2016, http://www.gina.gov.gy/home/in...s-tour-pharmacy-bond

Staff of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation’s (GPHC) bond identifying the 70/30 insulin to the media

The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is not experiencing a shortage of medical supplies, according to June Barry, the institution’s Drug Bond Manager.

Speaking to media operatives during a tour of the facility, today, the manager in a response to an article in last Saturday’s Kaieteur News, said that “there is no shortage of drugs at the facility.”

She noted that this type of fabrication can impact the facility negatively because patients may not want to seek care at the facility due to the misconception of not being able to receive the treatment they may require.

GPHC’s Administrative Manager, Yvonne Bullen also pointed out that the facility does not have a shortage of drugs; but the 70/30 insulin for adults is in short supply. However, there is enough 70/30 insulin for emergency cases and an order has been placed for new supplies which are expected to be delivered shortly.

Bullen added that apart from GPHC’s Bond, there are several other storage facilities to which the hospital has access. These include the Ruimveldt Bond and the pharmacies at Campbellville, Kitty, Industry and Enmore Health centres.

Permanent Secretary of the Public Health Ministry, Trevor Thomas, recently advised health care providers at a meeting that before saying there is a shortage of drugs at a facility, management should check with the other facilities in the region, because “there may be a shortage of drugs at a facility, but not in a region, because one place might have a shortage, while another might have the same drugs in excess quantity.”

The Pharmacy Bond staff took media operatives on a tour of the facility, identifying all of the medical supplies which were said to be in short supply in the Kaieteur News article. The newspaper stated that patients were being asked to purchase basic medications due to the shortage of critical drugs such as panadol, aspirin, lanoxin injection and 70/30 insulin.

The Ministry is undertaking a new procurement system for medical supplies. This will see each region receiving an allocation for the procurement of drugs and medical supplies. However, an agreed sum will be returned to the Ministry along with a list of required drugs, which will then be pooled and used to procurement the drugs.

Topics