|
Heat turned on Medical Stores Department
2007-07-18 09:07:46
By Patrick Kisembo, Dodoma
The Medical Stores Department (MSD) came under fire yesterday, as legislators pressed the government to investigate credibility, capacity and competence of the department`s management team.
The MPs’ reactions followed outcries from government-owned hospitals, which have been accusing MSD of poor services when it came to the distribution of essential medicine.
``My committee has received a lot of complaints from stakeholders about MSD`s poor performance. It is high time its competence was scrutinised,`` said Committee Chairman Omari Kwaang’w.
``The government must be careful with the MSD operations otherwise the hospitals will continue experiencing problems,`` he added.
He said on-going government efforts to construct a health centre in each ward and village would be useless in the absence of a well-defined, competent, and professional MSD management.
The department is unable to order and distribute medicine and other medical facilities on time on acceptable standards, he said. ``Basing on these trends, the current MSD management is very disappointing,`` said Kwang’w.
Seconding the call, the Shadow Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Ali Tarab Ali, told Parliament that pressure against the department’s executives had been prompted by poor operations.
Dr. Ali blamed the department for ordering substandard medical facilities, which took long to reach the targeted health institutions down to the grassroots levels.
``This creates shortages of medicine in the hospitals. In the past, MSD used to deliver the supplies on time, but now many people are complaining and querying its services,” said Dr Ali.
The legislator said the government must take action against the MSD. He proposed that Chief Medical Officers should be given the mandate to order medicines directly rather than relying on the MSD.
``In this free market; bureaucracy has no space. We have to design policies that allow upcountry chief medical officers to order their drugs. MSD needs to be transformed within six months,`` said Dr Ali.
|
