Botswana’s President Duma Boko on Monday announced a public health emergency after the collapse of the country’s central medical supply system left hospitals and clinics facing critical shortages of essential medicines and equipment.
In a televised address, Boko said the military would take control of emergency distribution, with the first relief trucks expected to depart from the capital, Gaborone, for remote regions before the end of the day.
“The medical supply chain as run by central medical stores has failed,” Boko stated. “This failure has led to a severe disruption to health supplies countrywide.”
The crisis had been anticipated earlier this month when the Ministry of Health cautioned that national stocks of vital drugs were running dangerously low due to financial constraints, forcing the suspension of all non-urgent surgical procedures.
To mitigate the shortages, the Ministry of Finance has approved an emergency allocation of 250 million pula ($17.35 million) for immediate procurement. However, President Boko noted that inflated procurement prices and ineffective distribution networks had contributed to waste, damage, and persistent losses in the supply chain.
The situation has been worsened by broader fiscal pressures. Botswana’s budget has been strained by a prolonged slump in the global diamond market — the country is the world’s leading diamond producer by value. In addition, the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump reduced health sector funding to Botswana, raising further questions about international support. A government spokesperson did not immediately comment on whether the funding cuts had directly intensified the crisis.
In its August 4 statement, the Ministry of Health disclosed that it owed more than 1 billion pula to private hospitals and suppliers, deepening the supply chain breakdown. Officials confirmed shortages of medication for hypertension, diabetes, tuberculosis, cancer, asthma, eye diseases, mental health, and reproductive health. Basic supplies such as dressings and sutures were also in critically short supply.
($1 = 14.4092 pula)
