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Sources within the institution said the hospital pharmacist recently condemned most of the drugs which were in stock and the authorities had to destroy them.

“The hospital is now facing a challenge of drug shortages. Patients are only given prescriptions  and referred to Zvishavane. The situation has adversely affected the poor who  are failing to raise money to travel to Zvishavane town to access drugs,” said the source.

The source said there were now divisions within the hospital management with some arguing that the hospital should have stuck with the expired drugs.

“It is a pathetic situation as the institution is now operating without drugs. The pharmacist, who condemned all the drugs and burnt them, was recently quizzed by the local health committee, who were not convinced that all the drugs had expired,” said the source.

Midlands Provincial Medical Director, Dr Milton Chemhuru said he was yet to receive a report of drug shortages from Mnene District Hospital.

Dr Chemhuru, however, said chances of shortage of drugs at Mnene District Hospital were possible given the manner in which Government was allocating drugs per hospital or clinic.

He said hospitals and clinics in the country were receiving equal quantities of drugs without considering demand and uptake by each  institution.

“It is possible that some drugs expired in some of our hospitals and clinics resulting in shortages. When Natpharm supplies clinics and hospitals, it uses what we call the pull system where they supply each hospital or clinic the same type of drugs regardless of the demand of such drugs in that particular area. For instance, Gokwe district, which is malaria prone, receives the same amount of malaria drugs as say Kwekwe or Gweru Hospitals. There is no need for large quantities of such drugs in Gweru City which is not malaria prone.

“What we are trying to push for is for the supplier to use what we call the push system. This is when a hospital receives drugs in accordance to the diseases that are prevalent in its catchment area. Under this system we will not have problems of drugs expiring or running out like what is happening at the present moment,” he said.