In non-compliance with Section 16 (2) of the Hospital Boards Act of 2003, it was observed that there were delays in the supply and delivery of essential drugs when they run out of stock.
The medical units at Gondama and Pujehun under the Ministry of Defence – 5th Brigade, Bo were constrained with essential equipment and clinical accessories such as beds, kidney sets, scissors, etc.
The Brigade Commander stated in his response to the lack of quality health care services to beneficiaries that “this issue should entirely be directed to the Ministry of Defence or the Joint Force Command Headquarters for their response and action”
On the management of medical storage facilities and contrary to the provision in Section 194 (1) of the Public Financial Management Act of 2016, the Auditors observed that the medical units at Gondama and Pujehun did not have stock cards to record drugs kept in the store.
“This created difficulty for us to carry out physical verification of store items. Poor records management of store items may create room for store items/drugs to be used misappropriated and eventual loss of information at the store” the Auditors from Audit Service Sierra Leone said.
They carried out physical verification of the medical units at Gondama and Pujehun which revealed that the medical store in Gondama was in a deplorable condition and there was no evidence that plans were under way for its maintenance.
In his official response on the storage facilities, the Brigade Commander replied that “this issue should entirely be directed to the Ministry of Defence or the Joint Force Command Headquarters for their response and action”.
The third query was that there was only one ambulance available in the Brigade which was inadequate to meet the demand of ambulance services for the RSLAF within that location.
In the final comment of the Auditor General, there was no evidence that the delay in supply of drugs to the 5th Brigade and 14th Battalion clinics has been improved, there was no evidence that the issues were addressed by management and that there was no evidence that the situation of the inadequate ambulances had been improved.
ZJ/29/1/2021
By zainab.joaque@awokonewspaper.sl