Note to Editors: Please find a soundbite in English by Madeleine Hicklin MPL here.
• Shortage of chronic medications at hospitals and healthcare facilities.
• The shortages reportedly include essential medicines for conditions such as high blood pressure, blood clots, epilepsy, and mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder.
• The Gauteng Department of Health needs to investigate the reasons behind the shortages of essential medicines.
Patients at Steve Biko Academic Hospital, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, Nigel Clinic, Northmead Clinic, and other healthcare facilities are increasingly concerned because these facilities have been unable to provide their regular medication. The shortages reportedly include essential medicines for conditions such as high blood pressure, blood clots, epilepsy, and mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is calling for an urgent investigation into the growing medicine shortage crisis, which is undermining patient care, lowering staff morale, and negatively affecting patients’ experience. The Gauteng Department of Health needs to investigate the reasons behind the shortages of essential medicines. It should determine if these issues stem from insufficient funding, procurement failures, supply chain breakdowns, or poor stock management and distribution. In addition, the department must ensure a dependable supply of essential medications for patients across the province.
Reports have come to the DA that at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, patients have reportedly struggled to access Simbicort, a medication used to manage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), for months and have instead been given alternative treatments, including Turbuhaler or Tiores inhalation capsules.
Likewise, Steve Biko Academic Hospital has been unable to supply a patient at risk of severe blood clots with Xarelto blood thinners for at least two months. As a pensioner living on a social grant, she cannot afford the R2000.00 per month this medication costs at a regular pharmacy. She was recently told she had developed a blood clot in her leg, but she still cannot get the medication.
Nigel Clinic has not supplied ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), general anxiety, or autism medication to patients for the last three months. Northmead Clinic has experienced a chronic shortage of essential medicines, especially epilepsy medicines, mental-health medicines such as anti-psychotic and bipolar medication, and some paediatric anti-retrovirals.
The Gauteng Health MEC, Faith Mazibuko, acknowledged the shortages in a written reply to a DA question concerning the unavailability of medicine at Northmead Clinic. She said where stock was in short supply, alternative strengths and pack sizes were provided as substitutes to ensure patient treatment continued without interruption. She added that stock is rotated between facilities within and, where necessary, across districts to improve availability and minimise wastage.
See reply here.
This is deeply concerning. Going without medication for conditions such as epilepsy, hypertension, blood clots, and serious mental health conditions can put lives at risk, worsen existing conditions, and put even greater pressure on an already overstretched healthcare system. These failures raise concerns about leadership, accountability, and the Gauteng Health Department’s ability to deliver reliable healthcare services across Gauteng under Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s administration.
A DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would strengthen medicine procurement and supply-chain management, closely monitor stock levels, act before shortages become critical, and hold officials accountable for failures that disrupt patient care. Patients should receive the medication they need when they need it.