Sabah health authorities to look into medicine shortage

Since the start of the year, patients were told that medication was given only for two weeks instead of a month, according to Christina Liew.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah health authorities are currently looking into claims of inadequate medicine supply in its hospitals.

When asked about the depleting supply in Sabah, state health director Dr Rose Nani Mudin told FMT: “We are investigating this issue.”

Rose Nani was responding to a statement today by former deputy chief minister Christina Liew urging the health ministry to ensure that all hospitals in the state were sufficiently stocked with medicines throughout the year.

Liew said she was perturbed to learn that certain medicines were “out of stock”.

Tawau MP Christina Liew.

According to her, this was what patients, including those with heart disease, had been told since the start of the year when they collected their medication at government pharmacies.

“Patients were told that medication was given only for a duration of two weeks compared with the usual one-month supply,” she said in her statement.

“As a result, patients had to return after two weeks to replenish their medicine.

“It is causing a great deal of inconvenience to senior citizens in particular. We are not starting 2022 on the right footing if we get reports like ‘medicines out of stock’.”

Liew said such a situation could not arise unless something had gone terribly wrong in the supply chain.

“The government of the day should prioritise public healthcare by ensuring there is no shortage of medicines in public hospitals.”

In a report by the Daily Express last November, a spokesman for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital II here said the hospital had to reduce the amount of medication given to outpatients due to its dwindling stock.

The spokesman, however, assured that this was only a temporary situation, saying the hospital was in the process of acquiring new stock. - FMT