Hospitals owe Central Medical Stores K41 bn
Central Medical Stores Trust (CMST) has expressed fear that the country could slip into a medical drugs crisis if public hospitals fail to pay debts they owe the medical supplier by next month.
In an interview yesterday, CMST board chairperson Josiah Mayani noted that as of December 31 2024, the country’s public health facilities owed the trust about K41 billion, which he said will affect the procurement of medical drugs to sustain supplies.

He said out of the K41 billion, the country’s four central hospitals, namely Queen Elizabeth, Kamuzu, Mzuzu and Zomba as well as Zomba Mental Hospital owe the trust K11.8 billion while district health offices owe the trust K29.2 billion .
Said Mayani: “When we get paid, we use the same money to pay our suppliers both local and international. So, if they are not paying us, the implication is that once our stocks run out, we will not be able to replenish them.
“So if we cannot bring stocks, it means government facilities can no longer receive drugs, and that means there will be a huge drug shortage in the country.”
He revealed that the trust also owes suppliers about K17 billion and that the drug level at CMST was currently at 70 percent.
“At the moment, we have drugs, but it will not last long, even one to two months. If we are not paid this month, it means [the Trust] will not have drugs and that is a problem,” said Mayani, sounding upset.
When contacted, Ministry of Health spokesperson Adrian Chikumbe declined to comment on the matter, saying Treasury and Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture are better-placed to comment on the matter.
“In line with the Decentralisation Policy, all funding to district hospitals, including that for drugs goes straight from Treasury to councils.
“It does not go through Ministry of Health. Perhaps Local Government or Treasury should be better-placed to respond,” he said.
Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture spokesperson Anjoya Mwanza asked for more time before commenting on the matter.
Currently, DHOs through local authorities are only allowed to access 10 percent of their drugs budgets to procure medicines and drugs from other supplies as CMST gets 90 percent of it. Central hospitals get funding directly from the treasury.