Government banks on electronic pharmacies to curb drug theft

Minister of Health Catherine Gotani Hara last Friday said government expects the process of turning the country’s hospital pharmaceutical systems into electronic pharmacies will significantly help address the long-standing drug pilferage challenge across the country.

Speaking in an interview, Hara said, so far, only Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe has an active electronic pharmacy which she said is helping the hospital to track all drugs going in and out of its system.

“We are encouraging hospitals to have these electronic systems because of the effectiveness of the technology to deal with theft of drugs. There is also a similar system at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre, but last week, I learnt that their system is down,” said Hara.

The minister said government would want all hospitals to have such electronic systems of managing drugs, saying government and development partners are spending a lot of money on procurement of drugs; hence, it would be unreasonable to entertain any theft of the drugs which are largely meant to benefit the poor who cannot afford to buy the same from private pharmacies.

“While these efforts are being made to ensure all drugs are effectively utilised in the system, we are calling upon all health workers to be on guard against any efforts to steal drugs in hospitals,” said Hara.

Ministry of Health Principal Secretary Chris Kang’ombe also said installing electronic pharmacy inventory systems in the country’s hospitals could be one of the most effective ways of stopping drug pilferage.

KCH director Dr. Noordeen Alide said the electronic pharmacy inventory system at the hospital is linked to their website in order to ensure transparency on how the drugs are flowing in the system.

“The system is able to record all stock deliveries, stocks available, all issued drugs and all drugs that are going out. All that information is available on our website so that anybody can see it,” said Alide.