Mozambique: Stocks of main drugs to be extended to six months as borders reopen

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Mozambique: Stocks of main drugs to be extended to six months as borders reopen

4:04 CAT | 18 Nov 2020

Mozambique’s minister of health, Armindo Tiago, said on Wednesday that the country had three months’ worth of stocks of main medicines and plans to extend this to six months following the re-opening of international borders.

Tiago made the comments during a question-and-answer session between the government and members of parliament.

“At the moment, the country has a stock for three months and with the opening of borders at international level, the situation is tending to normalise”, he said.

The government, he continued, foresees the entry of 24,702 kits containing essential medicines in January 2021 for the supply of health units, allowing stocks to be increased to six months.

The government has also secured an increase in personal protective equipment for staff working in health units, to stop infection from the new coronavirus that causes Covid-19, he said. “After the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic, the need for the above-mentioned material increased exponentially and new needs such as Covid-19 tests, overalls, visors and infrared thermometers emerged.”

Despite such new challenges, the government has ensured the regular distribution and deployment of medical supplies in all health facilities and now has enough for three months, Tiago said.

He stressed that some of the essential medicines available in the national health service had been redirected to help combat the coronavirus, and that isolation centres have been equipped with the medical equipment necessary to treat Covid-19 patients, namely ventilators, oxygen concentrators, medical gases, X-ray machines, ultrasound scanners, monitors and oximeters.

“As far as medical equipment and medicines are concerned, given the context, the country is stable,” he said.

Source: Lusa