Medical drug shortages hit Malawi as DHOs exhaust budgets

District public hospitals in Malawi have run out of essential medical drugs after District Health Officers exhausted the budget allocations for buying drugs for 2016/17 financial year. Confirming the drug shortages in district public hospitals,  Health ministry spokesperson,  Adrian Chikumbe, said the Ministry will meet with other stakeholders to find a way to resolve the setback.
'This is very serious indeed. The ministry will be meeting other stakeholders to see what can be done.' Parliamentary Health Committee chair, Juliana Lunguzi in her opinion, suggested that patient should pay for their health services.

'The only solution to this problem is to let people pay for the health services,' she said.

However,  the government is said to be reluctant to implement the pay for your medical drugs policy as it can turn out to be a big political storm that can cost the government heavily during the 2019 general election, according to Nyasa Times.