Medication shortages at Vryheid Hospital?

A REPORT released earlier this year claimed that 21% of public health facilities in South Africa have experienced a “stock out” or shortage of certain medications.
There is no simple explanation for the stock outages and they are said to often be a result of a complex administrative process that ultimately endangers the lives of South Africans.
On Thursday, June 18, a complaint was received by the Vryheid Herald from a local resident who had had and accident at the Mason Clinic on Monday, June 15.
According to this resident, the bench she was sitting on at the clinic’s waiting area broke in half and she fell.
“I was at the clinic to fetch some prescribed medication as I had underwent knee operations on both of my knees when the accident happened,” said this resident.
She was than rushed to Vryheid Hospital as she was in excruciating pain and needed to have X-rays done to see if the fall hadn’t interfered with the knee operations.
After the X-ray, the resident says that she was given a list of medication to get at the Hospital’s pharmacy counter before she went home.
“ When I got there I gave them the list and was only given Panado and told that the other medication for pain relief was not available,” she said.
The Vryheid Hospital has been contacted regarding the matter and we are awaiting their response.