Health Workers Hide Medicines - Moswaane
Assistant Minister of Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Ignatius Moswaane has thrown a spanner in the works by claiming that the uproar over medicine shortages is not just about supply gaps, but also sabotage by health workers.
He says health workers are deliberately withholding drugs from patients. Moswaane made these claims during a kgotla meeting in Metsimotlhabe, where residents demanded answers on why the government appears focused on the establishment of a constitutional court while hospitals and clinics across the country are reportedly crippled by shortages.
They told the minister that clinics are empty, ambulances are scarce, roads are crumbling, and there is a critical shortage of personnel. Yet the government is preaching about a constitutional court, which they fear will drain even more money from an already strained system.
In response, Moswaane acknowledged that shortages have been reported but insisted that, in some instances, medicines are available but are being kept away from patients.
He said he made the disturbing discoveries during oversight visits to several areas.
The minister revealed that in Charles Hill, he found that about 70 per cent of the medication was available. He also visited Seronga, Shakawe and Otse, where he said drugs were in stock.
“What is painful is that a patient will know they take a certain pill. If that specific pill is not there, there can be substitutes. The question is, why send them back and not give them what is available?” he asked.
He suggested that instead of offering alternatives, some health workers are simply turning patients away.
He recounted a meeting with an elderly man in Selibe Phikwe who complained that he had been told there was no medicine. Moswaane said he walked into the health facility with the man, and after the staff checked using the patient’s card, the medication was produced.
“It was there, so why did you not give it to him? There is sabotage, and it is real.”
Meanwhile, a senior health official who cannot be named for fear of victimisation has told this publication that what Moswaane is saying is not true.
What they know is that the elderly man was found by the minister waiting in a queue for his turn to be assisted, the patient was asked what he needed and said he had just arrived from the hospital with no medication as it was
said to be finished.
The minister then took his card, skipped the queue and asked that he be assisted and it was found that the medicine was available at that facility, meaning he would have been assisted when his time came.
'There is no sabotage from health workers; they go an extra mile to assist patients, no one can sabotage the government by denying citizens life-saving medications,' the source said.
The minister said there was another dramatic encounter in Bobonong, where he had gone for a Kgotla consultation. Residents there told him that pregnant women were being sent home to buy supplies needed for their own delivery procedures.
After the meeting, Moswaane said he went straight to the health facility and demanded to see what was available in the dispensary. Unsatisfied, he asked to inspect the storeroom.
“I asked for the storeroom key. We spent a good 30 minutes trying to open the door with a key that would not work. I told them I would wait there until that door opened, or we broke it.”
Eventually, the correct key was brought, and the storeroom finally opened. Moswaane claims he found 102 boxes of supplies locked inside. “Sabotage!” he said.
“They know that when just one woman cries on Facebook, the government is tainted. We are fighting these things. We see them, and we are dealing with them.”
He also raised concerns about reports from Ngangabgwe Referral Hospital, where patients allegedly needing operations are being turned away because what is available is being reserved for “high-risk” cases.
Moswaane said he questioned that reasoning. “Are those who need operations not high risk? Further, asking whether preferential treatment could be taking place, asking whether friends, family members or people with
influence are being prioritised.
Bobonong and Nyangabgwe hospitals were unable to respond to the Minister’s accusations at press time.
However, Bobirwa District Council, through its social media page, confirmed on the 28th of January that Moswaane visited Bobonong Hospital and was told that supplies were sitting in the storage waiting to be dispatched to different health facilities.
The post also adds that Moswaane was not pleased with the leadership and told them that such delays seemed intentional and tarnished the government's reputation. He ordered immediate distribution of the medication.
Meanwhile, the minister also claimed that some individuals are being mobilised or “brainwashed” to speak against the establishment of the constitutional court, warning residents not to be deceived into believing that the government is neglecting other pressing issues.
He stressed that the administration is addressing multiple challenges simultaneously, saying this is why the recent national budget has a huge deficit.
Moswaane said this demonstrates the government’s commitment to improving critical sectors despite financial constraints. Health and education, he insisted, remain at the top of the government’s priority list.