Fire destroys medicine warehouse in central Mozambique

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Fire destroys medicine warehouse in central Mozambique

5:13 CAT | 19 Jan 2021

Photo: Diário da Zambézia

A medicine warehouse serving more than 300,000 people and 17 health units in central Mozambique has been destroyed by fire, health authorities in the province of Zambézia told Lusa on Monday.

The fire in Alto Molócue occurred on Tuesday of last week (12-01), but was only reported by the authorities yesterday. It was started by an electrical fault, and destroyed medicines and medical and surgical material destined for 17 hospital units, chief medical officer of Zambezia province Isaías Marcos said.

“The warehouse has been completely destroyed, and experts tell us that it cannot be rehabilitated, but will have to be rebuilt,” he said.

Marcos said it was only possible to salvage from the fire a small amount of medicine, two medicine refrigerators, some furniture, and a computer containing information on the management of medicines.

So far, the distribution of medicines has not yet been affected, Marcos said, adding that authorities had created an alternative distribution centre and resumed medicine supplies to the entire district the day after the fire.

“We sent the request that had already been made by the district for the next month. It was in anticipation of that situation. The district had zero stock after the fire,” he said, but all the hospital units that depended on the warehouse had now been re-supplied.

The next step will be, together with the district government, the district health service and partners, to “work to find funds to ensure that the warehouse is rebuilt”, he concluded.