Health ministry pushes back on death claims amid medicine crisis

Machacha made the remarks when appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after Members of Parliament (MPs) subjected ministry officials to intense questioning over the continued shortage of medicines in public health facilities and its impact on patients across the country. MP for Lobatse Kamal Jacobs was one of the first to accuse the ministry of complacency alluding that people are dying to shortage of medications. “People are dying out there. In Lobatse, there are people dying everyday. Every weekend I bury five or six people because there is no medication. Why do we have shortage of medication when we never had it?” asked Jacobs. Jacobs did not hold back as he elaborated that people are losing their lives due to reasons that some people are failing to do their jobs.“Batswana are dying because you people are incompetent to do your work. It is as simple as that.