Gauteng Health Communication

Last year alone, more than five million people collected medication from various public health facilities in Gauteng.
These 5 465 003 patients collected medication for various ailments including chronic medication in the last financial year, 2019/2020.
This, says Acting MEC for Health in the province, Jacob Mamabolo shows that the state pharmacy is capable of servicing Gauteng residents and contributing positively to the overall delivery of quality healthcare.
"Despite the increasing volume of people visiting our facilities, we continue to meet our obligation, and this affirms the resilience of our health system and the state of readiness towards the implementation of the universal health coverage, National Health Insurance," said MEC Mamabolo.
To maintain this status and to ensure that the department continues to supply medication to the needy, the following measures have been put in place:   
Weekly monitoring of medicine availability at the pharmacy store which provides an opportunity to source stock before it impacts service delivery.
Follow ups are made with suppliers to expedite delivery, when an item has exceeded the lead time. 
Movement of and borrowing of stock between facilities where possible. 
Ensuring adequate stock holding for the suppliers with longer lead times. 
Imposing penalties on non-performing suppliers. 
Payment of suppliers within 30 days, to ensure that accounts are not placed on hold. 
Buy-out against suppliers who cannot supply the medication and have exceeded on the contractual lead time. 
 
MEC Mamabolo further stated that the average waiting time to collect medication at the government hospital pharmacies is within the norms and standards for waiting time but there is room for improvement. 
"In the last financial year, the majority of our facilities were above 95% in terms of stock availability for medication and we will work on increasing this figure in the current year," concluded MEC Mamabolo.