![[Swaziland] Operating theatre at Mbabane government hospital.](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20043254.jpg.webp?itok=x-5rsf6G "Swazi nurses are leaving the country for better salaries abroad")
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Hospital pharmacy shelves remain barren two weeks after Swaziland's government vowed to supply essential drugs that have been unavailable for months.
Parliament and the local press have clamoured for an explanation from the health ministry as to why drugs for emergencies and other conditions have not been procured, while patients are left with the option of purchasing medicines from retail pharmacies or private clinics, or go without.
People have been denied treatment at clinics and even the nation's largest referral hospital, the Mbabane Government Hospital, where senior medical officer Dr Austin Ezeogu described the situation as "chaotic".
Operations in theatre have become problematic due to an absence of essential medicines, such as intravenous drips and resuscitation medication, while drugs to treat hypertension, diabetes and asthma are hard to come by.
The local press has ascribed the unavailability of drugs to a "petty squabble" between the health ministry and the Central Tender Board, which awards contracts to drug companies.
"It is embarrassing that after 37 years of independence we still cannot award a tender for the supply of hospital drugs for the whole year.
The ministry of health stopped the awarding of tenders," said Elliot Sihlonganyane, chairman of the tender board.
He said no tenders for hospital drugs were awarded for 2005-06 because of health ministry foot-dragging, which he blamed on the personal interests of an official he declined to name.
The health ministry has had three ministers at its helm in the past 12 months, none of whom have addressed the acute shortage. The current health minister, Njabulo Mabuza, recently told parliament that the tender board was to blame for the delay, as well as the need to import all pharmaceuticals, mostly from neighbouring South Africa.
Swaziland has the world's highest HIV/AIDS infection rate - about 33 percent - and two-thirds of its one million people live below the poverty line, according to the United Nations Development Programme.
Member of parliament Moi Moi Masitsela has called on King Mswati III to intervene in the health crisis.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
