Green Party president Peter Sinkamba has expressed concern on the shortage of medical supplies in government hospitals and clinics on the Copperbelt Province.

And Sinkamba says the National Health Insurance Scheme is a total disaster as its implementation has worsened the state of medical supplies in Zambia.

In a statement, Wednesday, Sinkamba complained that the shortage of drugs in public health facilities was distressful and called upon Minister of Health Dr Chitalu Chilufya to urgently restock supplies in order to curb unwarranted deaths.

“For some obvious reason, key government hospitals and clinics on the Copperbelt have run out of critical medical supplies. This is very distressing! Most deaths we are witnessing in government hospitals and clinics on the Copperbelt is due to critical shortages of medical supplies. Some of these deaths are clearly unwarranted,” Sinkamba stated.

“It is wrong and distressing to lose precious lives in this manner, and it is uncalled for to subject our people to unwarranted pain and suffering in this manner. We need medical supplies to be restocked immediately! I call upon the Minister of Health Dr Chitalu Chilufya to urgently dispatch medical supplies to the Copperbelt.”

And Sinkamba blamed the implementation of the Health Insurance Scheme for the critical shortage of medical supplies.

“It is certainly no coincidence that critical shortage of medical supplies on the Copperbelt has come about at the time the National Health Insurance Scheme has been introduced. Certainly, this coincidence is a harbinger of worse things to come as a consequence of the scheme. When a new scheme is introduced, there must be immediate visibility of benefits or some semblance of benefits,” demanded Sinkamba.

“This is totally amiss with the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme. Our view is that it must be scrapped! It is a total failure. Critical shortage of medical supplies on the Copperbelt in government hospitals and clinics in the last three months following introduction of the scheme is a very good example. This scheme is not serving any purpose at all.”