THE Government has warned people against buying and using
prescribed drugs and other pharmaceutical items that were looted when
pharmacies were broken into during the violent stay away recently, saying they
should go to authorised dealers.
The Government also said it was making sure that those that
looted were brought to book. A number of pharmacies were broken into and looted
during the skirmishes that ensued recently, resulting in unwarranted
destruction of infrastructure.
In an interview with Sunday News, the Acting Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Gibson Mhlanga, urged
members of the public to avoid buying and taking drugs without being prescribed
by health practitioners even if they were cheap.
“People should desist from self prescribing. They are
looters on the prowl. Neither should they buy from people who are selling drugs
on the streets because they have no medical supervision or license to sell
drugs,” he said.
Dr Mhlanga said the ministry does not know yet in terms of
quantities and types medicines or drugs people got access to during the time of
looting.
“However, as we know medical drugs can be very dangerous if
they are not used appropriately, it will be unwise for someone to buy or take
drugs without being prescribed by a qualified health practitioner so it is
quite dangerous if people are to buy and take the looted pharmaceutical items,”
said Dr Mhlanga.
He emphasised that even the common antibiotics could be
very dangerous if not used properly.
“If it is antibiotics the body can resist them in future
because they would have not been used in the manner that they are supposed to
be used.
So there can be issues of overdosing and inappropriate use
of drugs for a particular condition just because the drugs are supposed to be
prescribed by medical professionals like doctors and nurses,” he said.
The immediate past president of the Pharmaceutical Society
of Zimbabwe, Mr Sikhumbuzo Mpofu, was at pains to express his shock at the
looting of essential places like pharmacies.
“In my 20 year career I have never seen people looting
pharmacies during protests, these are places that are considered vital but when
protesters attack these places then there is a problem,” he said.
Mr Mpofu noted that the communities suffer the most. “If
you look at the areas that were looted it is in the western side of Bulawayo
and those communities need to make use of pharmacies nearest to them but now
that they vandalised them how will they access drugs?
He further said another major loss was that of medical
records of patients, adding that some pharmacies were unlikely to recover as it
cost around US$ 10 000 to set up the structure. Sunday News
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