Just
months after the Swaziland Government said it could not afford to buy
life-saving drugs to prevent Swazi children dying from diarrhoea,
it has spent US$1.7 million on top of the range BMW cars for itself.
At least 40 children have died and hundreds have
been hospitalised in a diarrhoea outbreak in which more than 3,000 cases have
been recorded. About 680,000 doses of life-saving rotavirus vaccine could be purchased for the
cost of the BMW cars, which would be enough to treat every child in the
kingdom.
It was revealed at a media
conference on Monday (22 September 2014) that the Swazi Government has bought
20 new BMW X5 sports utility vehicles which are to be used by government
ministers and top officials.
The purchase is just another example of
irresponsible spending in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, who is
sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
In March 2014, US$600,000 was spent on the opening
ceremony for the Sikhuphe Airport which was renamed King Mswati III
Airport. No commercial flights have ever flown in or out of the airport. It
has been widely criticised outside of Swaziland as a vanity project
for the King.
Earlier this year, the Swazi Minister of Health
Sibongile Ndlela-Simelane told the Swazi
Observer newspaper that distributing the
vaccine was not the top priority.
The newspaper reported, ‘The minister said the
rotavirus, vaccine was expensive; therefore rolling out the immunisation
programme cannot not be done overnight since “it is a process and a strong
budget is needed”.’
In August 2014, Swazi
Media Commentary revealed that if money were diverted from the Airport
opening ceremony the Swazi Government could afford to save the lives of the
kingdom’s dying children.
According to the website of the Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention, a 10-pack of one dose vials of rotavirus vaccine
costs US63.96 at commercial rates. That means US$600,000 could buy 93,750 doses
of vaccine. However, a World Health Organization Bulletin stated that GlaxoSmithKline has offered
to provide its vaccine at US$2.50 per dose.
At
that price 680,000 doses could be purchased for the cost of the BMW cars. Typically,
a child would need two doses for protection against diarrhoea.
See
also
SWAZI KING PARTIES WHILE CHILDREN DIE
No comments:
Post a Comment