Moretele residents frustrated by medicine shortage
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As cold and flu season approaches, residents of Bojanala district in the Moretele Municipality face a shortage of medicines to treat colds, and ear and eye infections. This is because of their local faces shortages of these medicines. write Precious Mashiane.
Lerato Thibedi, a 34-year-old resident, is one of many frustrated residents. “Whenever I go to the clinic with flu symptoms, they always tell me they don’t have cold and flu meds,” she says. “Last month, I went and was still told there are no cold and flu medications.”
NW health department reassures patients over medicines
Agnes Golela, 49, has a similar story. She says she visited the Leseding clinic recently for an earache. Nurses told her they had no medicine to treat her with. “I could not believe what I was told. I went to the clinic to be told that I should buy Vicks. What a waste of time,” she says. “It’s not the first time. Late last year, I went with a swollen eye, and still, I didn’t get the medicine.”
In 2021, a report by Ritshidze, a community-led healthcare service monitoring project, showed that 23.5% of patients in rural areas leave clinics without the medicine they needed. Unfortunately, two years later, clinics in Moretele still appear to battle with this issue.
Tebogo Lekgethwane, the North West Department of Health spokesperson, says the shortage has been dealt with. He says all clinics now have the necessary medicines. Moretele local municipality is a deeply rural area with 26 villages and no hospital, with only one 24-hour clinic. – Health-e News
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