Tanzania faces an acute shortage of BCG vaccine administered to children at birth, posing a health risk to the newborns as they may contract severe forms of childhood tuberculosis.
Several parents with newborns have been looking for the vaccine in a number of hospitals without any success.
The parents, in separate interviews with this paper, feared that their babies might be affected if they don’t access the vaccine.
Nelly Mwandoloma, a resident of Dar es Salaam, said that she feared of the life of her nine-day-old baby who did not get the BCG vaccine.
“I visited several hospitals looking for the vaccine such as Sinza Health Centre, Sanitary, Mikocheni Mission, Mwananyamala and Lugalo Military Hospital only to be told that it was not there,” she complained.
“I wanted to know the reason for the scarcity. A nurse at Sinza Health Centre told me that there’s no factory in Tanzania, which manufactures such a vaccine,” she said.
“Go back home until when we get it (the vaccine),” the nurse said.
Naomi Andrew of Sinza complained on the same problem, saying that her baby has not been administered with the vaccine because it isn’t available in hospitals.
“I went to Sinza Health Center, Mwananyamala and Lugalo but I couldn’t get the vaccine. A nurse told me that the shortage was due to government’s failure to pay its debt to the Medical Stores Department.
When contacted for comment, Deputy Health and Social Welfare minister Dr Seif Rashid admitted the shortage of the vaccine, attributing it to a delay in importing it because manufacturers produced quantities below the required demand.
“It’s true that for sometime we’ve been facing the shortage of BCG vaccine in our public hospitals. Definitely this situation is not only prevailing in our country. The global demand from manufacturing countries such as India and Denmark is quite high compared to the quantity produced,” the minister said.
He said that in the past the country faced shortage of syringes for the BCG vaccine, a problem which has already been tackled.
He assured the public that the vaccine will be in supply in hospitals starting next week as a consignment is expected to arrive in the country tomorrow.
The minister said distribution of the vaccine will start “soon” adding that there’s a small stock at the Medical Stores Department (MSD) which is not enough compared to the demand.
He urged hospital authorities to make a follow up of the vaccine through regional health officers and coordinators of the Mother and Child Health Programme.
A reliable source at the Muhimbili National Hospital told The Guardian that there was a looming shortage of the BCG vaccine for nearly two weeks.
The vaccine is important to the growth of a child and should be administered for six months.
By LYDIA SHEKIGHENDA, IPP Media
