Hospitals to now buy medicine themselves says health minister

Instead of relying on depots, hospitals will be able to buy medicine and equipment and have it delivered directly to the hospitals.

This was announced by the minister of health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi at The Ranch Resort as he addressed 43 chief executive officers (CEOs) of hospitals in Limpopo last Tuesday.

He said hospital CEOs would have a contingency budget for emergency supplies and would receive training from treasury officials on complying with financial regulations.

“At depots, officials can steal drugs and they don’t see they are delaying care. In hospitals, the doctors can show officials the patients who need the medicine. The depot system created problems for so many years, but the new system will stop corruption,” Motsoaledi said.

He explained that pharmacists currently in depots will be deployed to hospitals.

“This was one of the resolutions taken during the ANC Mangaung elective conference. Medical depots should be phased out and hospitals order directly from the suppliers. “We want to avoid a situation where medicine expires at depots while patients are dying in hospital.

“We have also abolished the deployment of politicians to be hospital CEOs.

“A CEO should have a degree in nursing, because he or she will understand the hospital.

“You cannot be CEO if you do not have at least five years’ experience in management,” he said.