Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Obadiah Moyo has called on retailers and wholesalers in the medical field to normalise the ongoing shortages of drugs by accepting bond notes and RTGS payment.
By Lisa Tazviinga
The health sector is currently battling to stay afloat due to severe foreign currency shortages forcing some to close while others nolonger accept any other form of payment except United States dollars.
In an interview at Harare Hospital Nurses Graduation Ceremony, Moyo said government was working with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to ensure wholesalers access drugs.
“As Government we are trying our best to make sure the required medicines are made available, by identifying the necessary foreign currency.
“RBZ has been extremely useful and helpful in releasing cash to wholesalers and manufacturers and we expect them to accept other forms of payment such as Bond Notes and RTGS, as a result of the injection of foreign currency,” said Moyo.
“We have heard a lot of people crying because they were being asked to make payments in USD.
“I am appealing to the retailers and wholesalers not to sell drugs in USD as it is not easily available in Zimbabwe, they should rethink positively for the sake of the chronic patients who are in dire need of medication, as well as any other patients,” added Moyo.
Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights recently gave the government an ultimatum to announce measures that would ensure adequate allocation of foreign currency for drug procurement from the central bank.
Meanwhile, during his address at the graduation ceremony Minister Moyo said it was part of the new dispensation’s main agenda to modernise the health sector.
“We need to modernise the health sector which is on top of the list priority for the new dispensation, we hope to create five star hospitals facilities that will integrate Zimbabwe health sector into the modern era,” he said.
