Boko raises alarm over inflated medicine prices :: Mmegi Online

President Duma Boko has raised concerns over exorbitant medicine prices in Botswana, highlighting that prices are inflated five to 10 times. Boko, who was addressing the nation on the state of health, disclosed that a recent quotation by a task force has uncovered a staggering price gap of over P600 million.

"It must be noted that the current prices often are inflated five to 10 times, and under the current economic conditions, this scenario is not sustainable. To illustrate this inflation of prices, an estimate received from CMS for a full year’s supply of the medicines needed right now stands at P705,369,748.09. A separate quotation was done by the task force for the same medicines, in the same quantities, and the figure of those medicines dropped to below P80 million," he said.

Boko said CMS does not deny this inflation of prices and partly attributes it to policies passed under the previous government, which mandated the inclusion of several brokers in the procurement process under the guise of job creation.