The Ministry of Health has acknowledged challenges in the availability of essential medical supplies in public hospitals, including referral hospitals, attributing the shortages largely to foreign exchange constraints.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Dan Namarika, said the availability of drugs and other medical supplies is expected to improve by the end of October following the provision of foreign exchange by the Reserve Bank of Malawi to the Central Medical Stores Trust (CMST).
Namarika said some supplies are already in transit.
He made the remarks after ministry officials engaged the Parliamentary Women’s Caucus, which sought to establish the reasons behind shortages of drugs and health workers, particularly specialists, in public hospitals.
Namarika acknowledged that public hospitals have experienced shortages of essential supplies in recent weeks, including medical gloves and anaesthetic drugs.
He said more than 70 percent of medical supplies are sourced from outside the country, making procurement vulnerable to foreign exchange challenges.
“We know that we have had challenges with some of the important supplies. Gloves have been a problem the past few weeks. Anaesthetic medicines have been a problem to a large extent, not because Treasury has not funded Central Medical Stores, but because of forex.
“So right now we are pleased, and I bet by the end of October our supply levels will be much, much better from Central Medical Stores,” added Namarika.
He disclosed that the ministry is engaging various companies, local banks and non-governmental organisations on ways of providing foreign exchange to CMST, adding that the parties are close to signing an agreement.
On Tuesday, September 8, 2026, the country’s referral hospitals raised concerns over significant shortages of essential drugs, forcing some facilities to procure supplies from private suppliers in some cases.
For instance, Mzuzu Central Hospital Director General Dr Dorris Kayambo said the facility received only about 40 to 50 percent of the essential medical supplies it requested from CMST last month.
Meanwhile, Parliamentary Women’s Caucus Chairperson Mary Khembo Maulidi said the engagement with the Ministry of Health was aimed, among other things, at establishing the reasons behind shortages of health workers, particularly specialists, and drug shortages raised by officials from various public hospitals during earlier engagements.
She said it is important for the country to prioritise healthcare by ensuring that CMST receives adequate foreign exchange on time to maintain a steady supply of drugs in public hospitals.
