Medical officers have been cautioned against giving wrong prescription drugs to patients, a trend that is believed to be common in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state.
Over the last two months, Aweil Civil Hospital has reportedly received at least one hundred patients with injection wounds. Most of them are children.
It is believed the patients were given wrong prescription drugs as treatment for their ailment at the private clinics.
Dr. Wol Wol Akeen, Medical Director of Aweil Civil hospital said last year, they recorded two deaths due wrong injections.
He told doctors and nurses to follow the standard operating procedures of the hospital when prescribing and administering medication to patients.
“I urge my fellow health workers – especially nurses to always be very careful when they want to give injection to a sick person. Last year, we lost a woman just because she was poorly injected which later resulted into a wound that ended up killing her,” he stated.
Deng Gau Gau, the branch manager Kony Koc, a private clinic, admitted that the private health sector requires profession medical officers.
He told Akol Yam 91 FM that they are planning to recruit professional nurses.
“We have been hearing of such cases and I must say I am not happy about it. For us, we are always ensure that the person we are recruiting has three years certificate in nursing. This is just to avoid anything that might arise,” Gau said.
Peter Dut Thiep, the Acting Director General in the State Ministry of Health disclosed that there are plans to conduct an assessment of health workers in the private clinics and public health centers to ensure only qualified individuals administers treatment.
He stated that no medical facility is allowed to recruit individuals with less than 3 year training in medical profession.
Mr. Dut said those who violate this instructions will be forced to close down.