This follows Ritshidze's third edition of the State of Health report which compares the data collected over the past three years of community-led monitoring in the province. 

In the report, one of the patients said he would arrive at one of the healthcare facilities in Mahikeng as early as 07:00 and only leave at 15:00 after being informed that there are no tablets. According to the report issued by the organisation, it was discovered that there were 404 reports of different medicines such as contraceptives and vaccines being out of stock this year, compared to 398 reports of medicines out of stock across 57 facilities in 2022, and 897 reports across 56 facilities in 2021. 

In 2021 & 2022 #Ritshidze interviewed nearly 100,000 public healthcare users, more than 68,000 PLHIV, & more than 15,000 key populations... find out more about our impact in our latest annual report --> https://t.co/XIv146H1Hv #ClinicsInCrisis #RitshidzeSA #KeyPopsHealth pic.twitter.com/G6P1RHbPm4

— Ritshidze (@RitshidzeSA) June 28, 2023

As a result, the province scored significantly worse than other provinces monitored by Ritshidze. The details of the report also showed that 81% of healthcare facilities borrow from other facilities when they are faced with stockouts and this also created a circle of shortages. It's understood that 49% of healthcare facilities visited by the organisation, complained about unreliable transportation and stated this as one of the reasons for the stockouts.

North West Health spokesperson, Tebogo Lekgethwane, appreciated the work done by the organisation and stated that the exercise by Ritshidze is meant to assist the department to identify areas to improve on. He said the department is internalising the report to draft an implementation plan to action all the recommendations. Lekgethwane detailed some areas the department attempted to stabilise in dealing with medication challenges in the province.

"It is clear from the report itself that medicine availability has improved a lot. The department has managed to sustain above 80% of medicine availability provincially. This is due to the implementation of a five pillar intervention plan. 

While there's been some progress — today's stories & data reveal ongoing challenges that make it hard for PLHIV, key populations, & other public healthcare users to access health services in the North West #NorthWestHealth pic.twitter.com/u0xNFkEsFk

— Ritshidze (@RitshidzeSA) July 20, 2023

The following areas of the plan have been stabilised: 

1. Operations within the medical depot have been improved to the point that the South African Pharmacy Council has upgraded the accreditation grade from C after financial management improved;
2. Delayed payments of invoices due to inefficacies within the system have been resolved. This is evident due to fewer suppliers being on hold at the beginning of the year mainly as a result of the budget being depleted; 
3. A contract for the pharmaceutical procurement system is in place; and 
4. Human resource management resolved HR-related issues.

“The provincial pharmaceutical office still needs to be strengthened. This awaits the finalisation of the disciplinary processes of the remaining two managers. District pharmaceutical services are the area of focus now, which is the area at which the inspections/observations were done," he said.

Lekgethwane further explained that the national and provincial treasuries appointed experts in 2022 to further investigate pharmaceutical services. He stated that their biggest challenge remains funding.

He said they will follow up on issues raised by communities and patient frustrations encountered at health facilities. This after issues of unfriendly staff, and long waiting times despite being reduced after it was raised in the report.

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