Victoria Hospital – Pharmacy Services: Long Waiting Hours at PMOC

– Those in red zones evoke travel difficulties when they have to wait hours in front of the counters

During this confinement, many heart patients, following their treatment at Victoria Hospital, in Candos, find it difficult to get there and obtain their usual medication. Every day, there is chaos and exasperation among these patients, who spend hours in long queues to receive their drugs.

These long queues in front of the counters of the Candos hospital are a tough problem. In addition, the current situation has forced patients back in front of these counters and it seems that the staff in this department can no longer manage. For days, the situation has become irritating for the patients.

Being allowed to go out only on the days corresponding to their alphabetical letter, these patients say they have no other choice but to wait hours before being served. Those who find themselves in the red zones cite difficulty in getting to the hospital each time. “We have to go through the Roadblocks. Sometimes some police officers understand the situation, while others often deny access, ”they say.

Many, who could not make it to the hospital, chose to buy these drugs from private pharmacies in the meantime. “There are medicines that we must take every day without fail. Nouds make an effort to buy them in pharmacies, but it’s quite a budget. And there you have to wait for hours in front of the counter. In addition, there are certain drugs that are even out of stock ”, laments a resident of Vacoas, patient of the Cardiac Unit at Candos hospital.

In addition, it was pointed out that not all the counters are operational and it would appear that there is also a lack of staff. Pharmacists would no longer be able to manage. They advise the public to go first and foremost to the health center closest to their residence for minor cases, instead of coming to Victoria Hospital, which is reserved for urgent and specialized treatment. However, it is precisely for major and specific cases that the queue is endless.
On the other hand, many patients receive monthly visits from physicians from the public. Relatives must then collect the drugs from the hospital pharmacy. It is stressed that there is “no provision” for this category of patients who are, in general, elderly or disabled people and it is the same counter that takes care of drugs for different types of patients. “It’s unfortunate that you absolutely have to go to the hospital even to take these drugs. These are not available at Area Health Centers, ”they say.

Patients having to undergo dialysis treatment also experience great difficulties since confinement. Besides the upheaval in their treatment sessions, they also have difficulties with their medications. “The public service is the only one to offer medicines for those who have had organs transplanted, whether in Mauritius or abroad. These drugs are so expensive that they are beyond the reach of those who need them. “

Many people absolutely have to rely on the hospital service for these drugs. However, with the current context, these people find themselves in a difficult situation. The patients of the hospital of Candos thus launch an appeal to the ministry to “put order in the system of distribution of drugs in pharmacies” .10

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