Nurses in Swaziland / eSwatini
have given government four weeks to solve the drugs shortage crisis
in the kingdom or they will call a nationwide strike.
This was stated at a
protest march where petitions were handed into the Ministry of Health and the
Prime Minister’s Office on Friday (21 June 2019).
Swaziland, ruled by
absolute monarch King Mswati III, has been short of medicines in public
hospitals for more than a year. The government, which is not elected but
handpicked by the King, is broke and has not paid suppliers. Media in Swaziland
reported people, including children, have died because of the
shortages.
President of the Eswatini
Nurses Association Bhekie Mamba told the Observer on Saturday newspaper in
Swaziland that government had lied in the past when it said medical supplies
were being sent to hospitals and clinics.
Nurses also want government
to prioritise hiring of nurses and for health care to be adequately financed.
The Observer quoted
the nurses association’s Second Deputy Secretary Neliso Matsenjwa saying, ‘if
this is not done in the next four weeks, we shall render the health sector unworkable’.
Last week psychiatric
nurses in Swaziland said say they might release patients from their clinic because
there were no drugs to subdue them after supplies ran out and they feared for
their own safety.
See also
Swaziland
health crisis: fearful psychiatric nurses say they might release patients
Swaziland
hospital crisis: govt not paid bills so patients only eat bread
HIV
drugs not available across Swaziland as health crisis deepens
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