By Ginaba Lino – Juba
The national Ministry of Health has not been supplying Malakal Teaching Hospital with drugs since 2019, according to Nyango John Adwok, Director-General of the hospital.
He told Catholic Radio Network on Thursday, that the hospital has been going through difficulties of drugs, no enough staff and the issue of power supply.
“We a lot of another challenges we have drug problems, see the last consignment of drugs came last July to the hospital and drugs from the government came 2019 up to we did not receive any drugs from the national ministry of health since 2019 apart from the little we received from our partners, also the problem of power is another issue we have power sometimes when there is emergency. But we hope that if UNICEF extends the World Bank project they should implement some things which are necessary in the hospital.”
John explained that the hospital rely only on partners like International Medical Corps and UNICEF that supply drugs through the World Bank project.
He calls on the national government particularly the ministry of health to collaborate with the partners to provide more drugs to the people of Malakal town and Upper Nile state in general
“So there are a lot of problems and I think it needs intervention from our partners and from the state government as well as the national government so that they can be able to address some issues that affect the hospital.”
Meanwhile the Minister of Health in Upper Nile State Dr. Byinj Ernest Apuktong said the state has been affected by the 2013 crises and therefore the government cloud not deliverer its services effectively citing that currently the government is trying its best to see that some of the issues that affects the community are addressed.
He explained that the state of ministry of health together with the national ministry is trying its best to see that the people of Malakal get good health services.
The minister appreciated the International Medical Corps and UNICEF for the good cooperation and services they are giving to the people of Malakal through the World Bank project.
Currently UNICEF is supporting about 94 health facilities, 4 Hospitals, 25 primary health care centers and 65 primary health care unities through World Bank project in Upper Nile State of Malakal town.
0n 1 March 2022 – The Ministry of Health, World Bank and UNICEF today launched a communication campaign to highlight the ongoing joint health programme and to increase awareness among a broad coalition of partners to increase investment in the health sector.
The national communication campaign will highlight the joint project of the Ministry of Health, the World Bank and UNICEF which supports COVID-19 vaccine deployment in the country as well as the provision of essential health services for the most vulnerable populations in two of the most hard-to-reach areas – the States of Jonglei and Upper Nile.
The communication campaign will run through the month of March and across multiple media platforms and messaging on the joint health services will be featured on billboards, videos, public service announcements and a TV special on the South Sudan Broadcasting Company which will highlight the achievements in the different health sectors.