Psychiatric nurses in Swaziland / eSwatini say they might
release patients from their clinic because there are no drugs to subdue them
after supplies ran out and they fear for their own safety.
The drug shortage is part of a nationwide health
crisis after the government failed to pay suppliers.
Nurses at the National Psychiatric Centre, near Manzini, have been drawing attention to the problem for some months, but government has failed to respond.
Nurses at the National Psychiatric Centre, near Manzini, have been drawing attention to the problem for some months, but government has failed to respond.
Nurses told the Swazi Observer newspaper that they suffered violence
from patients.
It quoted one nurse saying, ‘The wards have
become battle rings because the patients are fighting more than usual since
there are those who need to be kept in check through medication. It’s hard for
us because our patients can’t reason due to their ailment.’
Meanwhile, senators in Swaziland have given the Minister
of Health Lizzie Nkosi seven
days to submit a detailed report highlighting the problems in the health
sector, including the drug shortages and proposed industrial action by health
workers.
Public services, including
health, are grinding to a halt as the government, which is not elected but
handpicked by absolute monarch King Mswati III, has repeatedly failed to pay
suppliers. Medicines have run out in public hospitals and clinics and children
who rely on free food at schools
to fend off hunger go unfed.
See also
Swaziland
hospital crisis: govt not paid bills so patients only eat bread
HIV
drugs not available across Swaziland as health crisis deepens
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