Johannesburg - For more than five months, Pamela Mantyi has been making round trips to her local health centre in Chiawelo, Soweto, hoping to get life-saving medicine.
All the 58-year-old diabetic wants is a medicine that could control her glucose levels. But a critical shortage of insulin medication at the Chiawelo Community Health Centre has forced her to “borrow” medication from her neighbours.
She is just one of the many South Africans whose lives are at risk because of the dire shortage of medication.
The extensive stock-outs nationwide are detailed in the latest annual survey by the Stop Stockouts Project (SSP), which was officially released on Wednesday at the seventh South African Aids Conference in Durban.
And it is a chronic problem – nationwide.
The report shows that thousands of South African patients, after spending long hours waiting in queues for either their HIV, tuberculosis and other essential medication, are greeted by a terse and crude message: “Sorry, it’s out of stock.”
The SSP research gives credence to recent widespread reports on the magnitude of the problem, which has been described as a crisis. SSP is a civil coalition of civil groups, including Médecins Sans Frontières, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society.
The report, which shows the first survey results from 2013 and 2014, was conducted telephonically over six weeks between October and November last year.
A total of 2 865 health facilities were contacted out of the 3 732 nationwide.
Of the facilities contacted, 87 percent provided information, 45 facilities did not treat HIV or TB patients and were removed from the denominator.
The report defines a stock-out as the unavailability of medicine on the health facility’s shelf, both on the day of the call and during the past three months.
Over one in four health facilities reported an HIV and/or TB medicine stock-out in a three-month period, according to the survey.
Lauren Jankelowitz, chief executive of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, said there were two causes for stock-outs. The first was acute flare-ups due to manufacturing challenges, and chronic persistent stock-outs as a result of management and logistical problems between the depot and clinic.
The five provinces with the largest proportion of facilities reporting stockouts were Mpumalanga, North West, Limpopo, the Eastern Cape and Free State.
As authorities grapple with the problem, desperate people such as Mantyi continue to bear the brunt of shortages of medicine.
Mantyi said:
“I am supposed to get six boxes of treatment but I am currently getting one box. I was at the clinic on Thursday, May 21 and was told to go back on the Monday, but when I went back, I was told they didn’t have any more treatment for me,” she said.
“I do this because I am unemployed… I cannot afford to buy my own medication… my neighbour’s daughter buys treatment for her on her medical aid, so at least I can borrow treatment from her.
“But I think she’s getting tired of me now, because I went to her and she told me she doesn’t have any, but I know she has,” Mantyi added.
Indira Govender, a public health medicine specialist, said a large proportion of facilities received reduced stocks because of the problem.
Anele Yawa, the general secretary of the TAC, said: “We want to see all levels of government, especially provincial health MECs and the heads of department, take bold and decisive action to create a system that is responsive to the needs of patients.”
John Stephens, a legal researcher at Section27, explained that the scope of the survey was enormous, as were the implications.
“This situation is a crisis affecting millions, and it really shouldn’t be this way,” he added.
The Star