Let’s end frequent shortage of medicines

A few weeks ago, health workers at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital embarked on a strike due to the absence of essential medicines for the treatment of patients. They had complained that the absence of the medicines exposed them to greater risk of assault and abuse by the inmates of the hospital.

The Ministry of Health, at that time, attributed the challenge to the procurement processes and hurriedly organised the supply of the medicines to the facility. It also gave an assurance that the necessary bottlenecks would be cleared to ensure the facility and other health centres did not run out of supplies.

Unfortunately, a month or two down the line, authorities of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital have raised red flags over the shortage of drugs used in the treatment of psychiatric and psychotic illnesses. That, they said, was in spite of the numerous appeals to the Ministry of Health for the supply of the drugs.

The Daily Graphic is not happy with the situation at the hospital, especially since it is a specialist facility that deals with psychiatric cases. We are even the more worried because the health professionals are open to abuse and assault, especially when the medicines cannot be provided to calm the nerves of the patients.

All over the world, psychiatric health care is one of the most prestigious and highly paid fields because of the specialist care the workers provide and the risk they are exposed to. But it is not so in our part of the world where not only are the facilities inadequate; but also those who venture into psychiatric care are often not respected.

Considering the high stress levels and demands of the work we do, from the family level to society in general, we must all acknowledge that anyone of us could end up at the psychiatric hospital. That is why we believe that psychiatric health care should be given the needed attention and support. The passing of the Mental Health Law should not just end with the setting up of the board.

The Daily Graphic wonders what the Ministry of Health had been doing all this while to ensure the constant supply of essential medicines to the facility after the initial shortage. Is it the case that the ministry sat back without ensuring that the officers responsible for the procurement process carried out their duties? Or is it the same procurement process?

We know the ministry had indicated that it needed to apply to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for exemption on its forex rules to enable it to quicken the process of procuring the medicines. 

It may well be that other medical facilities apart from the psychiatric hospitals are facing shortages of not only essential medicines, but crucial medical consumables as well.

We think that the authorities must endeavour to supply the essential medicines and equipment to enable the health professionals to give their best. Most of them are working under stressful conditions and exposing them to more risk such as the unavailability of medicines and medical consumables is unacceptable.

The Daily Graphic, therefore, urges the Ministry of Health and all agencies responsible for the supply of the medicines to the facilities to up their game.