Poor road conditions across Matabeleland are disrupting the distribution of essential medicines to health facilities, with the government-owned National Pharmaceutical Company (NatPharm) reporting frequent truck breakdowns, rising delivery costs and delays in getting medicines to patients.
The problem is particularly acute in Binga, Hwange and Nkayi, which NatPharm says are among the districts where its delivery vehicles experience the most breakdowns because of deteriorating roads.
NatPharm Regional Stores Manager, Tanyaradzwa Satande, told the Parliamentary health committee who recently toured the Bulawayo warehouse that the condition of roads, particularly during the rainy season, was making some districts increasingly difficult and expensive to reach.
“Another challenge is definitely the terrain, especially in Binga, Hwange A and B, both sides. There is also Nkayi. Those are the top three where most of our breakdowns for trucks or delivery trucks occur because the roads are now in a terrible state,” she said.
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Satande said the situation worsens during the rainy season, when additional districts become difficult to access.
“When it rains, during the rainy season, more districts are added to the list, including Tsholotsho, Beitbridge, Insiza. Some of those districts become hard-to-reach areas, especially during the rainy season,” said the regional store manager.
She added that vehicle breakdowns do not only affect NatPharm’s operating costs but also have a direct impact on patients by delaying deliveries.
“We do face some breakdowns from time to time due to the poor terrain. It also becomes a cost because the rescue efforts will also need a lot of money with the fuel to attend to the rescue, to the breakdown, as well as the personnel,” Satande said.
“That also has a ripple effect on the delivery times. It will delay the product reaching the end user.”
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The difficulties highlight a broader challenge in Zimbabwe’s public health supply chain, where the availability of medicines depends not only on procurement and financing but also on the ability to physically move supplies from distribution centres to health facilities.
To the remote communities, medicines that have been procured and stored at NatPharm are of little use if they cannot reach the clinics where they are needed.
When legislators asked if NatPharm was considering using drones to deliver medicines and supplies, the company said it was exploring technology as a potential way of overcoming some of the logistical challenges associated with difficult-to-reach areas.
NatPharm Operations Manager, Herbet Mashanga, said the organisation had considered using drones to deliver medicines but had encountered regulatory challenges involving the aviation authorities.
“Using drones already we should have made an attempt to go through, but currently or actually we faced some issues with the aviation authority when we tried actually to have a pilot on that,” he said.
Mashanga said NatPharm had engaged a company that provides drone services and was continuing to explore the possibility of using the technology.
“They have given us more of the information going forward. But again, definitely with the timing and the movement of technology is something which we are taking forward,” he said.
Parliamentary Health Committee chairperson Discent Collins Bajila acknowledged that health facilities need roads that work, noting that the government could draw lessons from how the private sector distributes products across the country despite poor road infrastructure.
He cited bread and beverages as examples of products that routinely reach remote communities.
“I think the government sometimes needs to learn some things from the private sector,” Bajila said.
He pointed to Proton bread, manufactured in Marondera, saying it can nevertheless be found “in every corner of this country”.
He also cited Chibuku, manufactured by Delta, as another product that reaches communities across, regardless of road conditions.
Bajila said the government had also demonstrated that it could establish nationwide distribution systems for critical national programmes, citing examination papers and ballot papers as examples.
“These things reach everywhere. We may need to learn from these exercises, from these programmes, and say how best can we then make sure that we replicate the same system for medicines and other essential services,” he said.
Bajila also acknowledged medicines present a different logistical challenge because they are required continuously.
“Bread is needed every day and the Proton gets everywhere. Chibuku is consumed by people every day and it gets everywhere. So these are some of the lessons,” he said.
The legislator also called for roads serving health facilities to be prioritised in national rehabilitation programmes saying improving medicine distribution therefore required more than interventions by NatPharm alone.
“Most importantly there needs to be a whole government approach around road rehabilitation and road development to make sure roads that lead to health facilities are prioritised,” Bajila said.
He said better roads would improve access not only for medicine deliveries but also for emergency medical services.
“Once we have proper roads, I believe medicines will reach health facilities first and also the private sector will invest more in health care, particularly in the availability of ambulances.”
“Roads that lead to health facilities need to be prioritised in road rehabilitation programmes.”
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