Speaking at the opening of the Fourth Meeting of his Ministry's Hospital Council, Garrido promised that the "special clinics", at which those who can pay for treatment jump the queue, will disappear.
This measure, Garrido said, seeks to ensure that services of good quality are provided to all citizens, regardless of how much money they have in their pockets.
People who want special treatment can go to private clinics, said the Minister. But in public hospitals all Mozambicans, regardless of their social standing, must have access to quality services.
"The services provided in our hospitals should be special for everybody and not just for a minority", declared Garrido.
"Hospital management should be undertaken in an integrated fashion, to provide a series of first class services to all users, without any discrimination".
The proposal to do away with the Special Clinics is not new - this proposal was made at the Third Hospital Council, held in November 2005. But there was no follow-up - hence Garrido's decision that this type of clinic can no longer be tolerated, and must end in the public hospitals this year.
Garrido also announced that he intends to wage war on those who steal medicines and medical material from hospitals. Stolen drugs often end up in informal markets, where untrained people sell them without having the faintest idea how they should be used.
Garrido announced that some heads have already rolled. The heads of the medical stores at the hospitals in the northern city Lichinga, and of Sussundenga, in the central province of Manica, have been arrested and face criminal charges.
The Minister added that recently a worker was caught red- handed stealing medicines in the Jose Macamo general hospital in Maputo, and he too will be charged.
Garrido argued that large scale thefts occur because of the poor organisation of the hospitals. The directors of health units have failed to take responsibility for the stores, and do not even know how much equipment and medicines their units possess.
"The directors must take control of the stocks of medicines in the hospitals", he said. "It is not enough to make constant requests for more drugs and materials, if the health units are unable to control them. The solution lies in improving the organisation and control of stocks".
Garrido admitted that the supply system for hospitals is in very poor shape, with health units often running out, not merely of sophisticated drugs, but of basic painkillers and anti- inflammatory medicines.
He blamed his Ministry's central services whom he accused of prioritising the purchase of equipment that was not particularly necessary. "We must urgently correct this anomalous situation", he said. "We must begin to prioritise the purchase of basic material, instead of equipment for surgical operations that are rarely undertaken".
Garrido warned that, in the provinces, most of the hospital emergency services exist only in name, because they lack the basic equipment to do their job properly.
SOURCE: AIM
