THE shortage of medication in KZN has left some patients on chronic treatment unable to receive their prescribed monthly medications.

Wentworth residents who receive chronic medications told the SUN that a pharmacy based at the Wentworth Hospital has a critical shortage of medication.

According to the patients who asked not to be named, the shortage of medication has crippled the functioning of the health facility.

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Secretary for the Democratic Nurses Organisation of South Africa (Denosa), Andile Mbeje, said hospitals in the province are operating under-staffed.

“The shortage of medication in government hospitals is due to the department’s continued cost-cutting measures, which have negatively impacted the distribution of medicines. In some hospitals, only two nurses are responsible for wards with up to 30 patients. We have also observed a reduction in staff nurses as posts left vacant by retirement are not being filled because of these cost-cutting measures.,” he said.

Mbeje said some hospitals in the province lack basic supplies such as bandages and Panado tablets because the department does not have an adequate budget.

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“We suspect that the department is now using the budget allocated for medication and paying the staff instead,” said Mbeje.

Last year during a media briefing held at the Wentworth hospital MEC for the KZN Department of Health Nomagugu Simelane admitted that some hospitals did not have medications.

Simelane said the department has stockpiled enough medication, as currently they have a three-month supply of medication ready to be distributed to healthcare facilities.

She, however, admitted that some healthcare facilities are 60% low on certain medications – meaning that the stockpiling has been reduced to a much lower level.

She said the reasons for this vary, as some suppliers do not have a specific medication that is required at the time.

She highlighted that the department’s financial year started in April 2024, however, the budget allocation that was given to the department was not sufficient.

Attempts to get a comment from the KZN Department of Health were unsuccessful as the department did not respond to questions sent last week.

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