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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