Saturday, March 28, 2015

Diabetic patients to get free and high quality treatment - Minister

Written by Nasongelya Kilyinga and Masato Masato in Dodoma
Deputy Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Stephen Kebwe
THE establishment of 169 diabetic clinics and provision of special diabetic training to 1925 medics countrywide are some of the government initiatives to provide all diabetic patients with free and high quality treatment, the national assembly was told on Friday.

Deputy Minister for Health and Social Affairs Kebwe Kebwe, responding to a question by Susan Lyimo (Special Seats—Chadema), said the government has in collaboration with the Tanzania Diabetic Association established the clinics in all district hospitals, regional referral hospitals, zonal referral hospitals and Muhimbili National Hospital to help patients access treatment easily.
He said under the national diabetic programme, the government is determined to provide free and high quality treatment services to all diabetics as provided in the national health policy of 2007.
The deputy minister said, the government had since 1993 placed diabetic under the exempted diseases whose patients don’t have to pay for their treatment.
“Despite the limited budget, the government has been collaborating with other development partners to ensure that important medicines for diabetic are readily available in the country,” said Dr Kebwe.
He however conceded some challenges like shortage of drugs in some health centres, compelling patients to buy them from private outlets.
The deputy minister said the ministry has already directed public health centres to use 65 per cent of revenues from the cost sharing to buy drugs from the medical stores department.
In her question, the legislator decried skyrocketing costs of diabetic medication and demanded to know the government plan to help patients through provision of free treatment.

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