Medical for Quality Healthcare in Zambia (MQHZ) says it is very disappointed with Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority (ZAMRA) for allowing theft of medicine in public clinics and hospitals.

In a statement, Thursday, MQHZ media and advocacy director Francis Kangwa wondered why clinics and hospitals had continued experiencing drug shortages.

“Medical for Quality Healthcare in Zambia (MQHZ) is very disappointed with Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority (ZAMRA) for allowing theft of medicine in public Clinics and Hospitals. As the public is aware, public Clinics and Hospitals have previously been experiencing shortages of essential medicines .This is partly because of pilfering of Medicines by unpatriotic health workers. MQHZ has been expecting ZAMRA to put a halt to this public plunder of Medicines. This is because ZAMRA has a statutory mandate to ensure safety and availability of Medicines in public health institutions,” stated Kangwa.

“We demand that ZAMRA explains to the nation why it has completely failed to stop stealing of Medicines in Clinics and Hospitals. Our people cannot continue receiving prescriptions at health institutions when ZAMRA can easily seal the stealing loopholes. MQHZ will now scale up the monitoring of availability of drugs in all public health institutions because lack of drugs cannot be entertained in Zambia.”