These syndicates, which include pharmacies, and other
health facilities demand payment in United States dollars despite the fact that
they, or their importer or wholesaler, bought their currency at the auctions.
The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) is now
investigating and if hard evidence of the practice is found several
pharmaceutical importers and retailers could be arrested.
In an interview, Zacc spokesperson, Commissioner John
Makamure, said their offices had been lately inundated with complaints and
allegations of this practice.
“Medical supplies are one of those items that have been
given priority in the allocation of foreign currency by the RBZ so the
importers can bid at the auctions. We have received complaints that some
unscrupulous pharmacies were accessing the hard currency to procure Covid-19
drugs.
“The drugs would be on shelves briefly. They would then
de-shelve them and divert them onto the black market,” said Comm Makamure.
“The reports we are receiving are that some pharmacies,
upon receiving RBZ auction proceeds they will insist on selling the drugs in
foreign currency. The pharmacies are obviously taking advantage of spiralling
of Covid-19 cases where more people are desperate.”
He said some of the drugs that have de-shelved but
resurfaced on the black market include Ivermectin, an anti-parastic drug that
is being studied to establish its efficacy in the treatment of Covid-19
symptoms, with Government having recently authorised its import for further
studies.
Already the drug has been found on the black market in what
Zacc suspects to have been a ploy by some unscrupulous pharmacies to cash-in
from the Covid-19 spike.
Last week, the Government approved the use of the drug for
“investigational” Covid-19 treatment following intense lobbying from some
primary care physicians who argue that the fusion of Ivermectin and nanosilver
was effective in caring for patients.
In her weekly Covid-19 update, chief cordinator of the
national response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the Office of the President and
Cabinet, Dr Agnes Mahomva, said the drug should only be administered and
dispensed in controlled environments with strict monitoring to avoid wanton and
indiscriminate prescription and dispensing of such medicines.
This approach would protect patients from unethical and unsafe
doses, as well as counterfeit products, including veterinary Ivermectin.
There is no evidence as yet from a controlled scientific
study that the drug does work, but the specific conditions now in place will at
least ensure that patients do not come to harm while investigations continue.
Last week, Zacc opened investigations into laboratories and
individuals accused of issuing certificates declaring a person free of Covid-19
without carrying out any tests, thus allowing potentially infected people to travel
and interact with others, allowing the virus to spread.
There have been reports that at least one private
laboratory and some State laboratories, or at least staff at these
laboratories, have been issuing certificates and sets of fake results without
doing the required test. Chronicle
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