Mozambique's Health Minister Ivo Garrido claims that an increasing number of medicines stolen from the country's National Health System are finding their way into the neighbouring Malawi, reports the Friday's issue of the daily paper 'Noticias'.
According to Garrido, this often involves gangs of organized crime, who are even using heavy trucks to carry the stolen medicines.
Garrido denounced this in Nampula on Thursday, during the Third National Meeting to Accelerate Leprosy Eradication.
On the occasion, he singled out the central provinces of Zambezia and Sofala as being hit the most by this illegal activity, and urged the citizens to denounce any suspicious cases to the relevant authorities, as the country could face the risk of being unable to provide adequate healthcare.
Garrido, however, did not give further details on the nature of the medicines most sought after by the criminals. Also, a number of these medicines are supplied to the informal market, and the authorities have already launched an investigation to identify the main culprits.
"We uncovered a theft of huge amounts of medicines in Zambezia province", said Garrido, adding that "in the following day, we found and intercepted a heavy truck loaded with these medicines in the border district of Milange, and therefore we presume that the product was about to be introduced in Malawi".
He said that this situation has to be dealt seriously by all the citizens in general, and particularly by the health officials, urging for a renewed commitment from the provincial directors.
Garrido also blasted the international media of sensationalism in covering theft of medicines in Mozambique.
Garrido was speaking before cadres from the Health Ministry and a number of representatives of international organizations currently funding Mozambique's health programs.
Saturday, 25 August 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment