Nyarugusu: closing of clandestine pharmacies

The hunt those running clandestine pharmacies has been launched in the Nyarugusu camp, in Tanzania. Medical Team International, an NGO that deals with the health component, wants to discourage self-medication. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The police, humanitarians, the administration and agents of MTI (Medical Team International), an NGO which deals with the health component, have been mobilized to curb with self-medication. Shops or pharmacies that sell drugs have been denounced and closed.

“The illustrative case concerns a large pharmacy in zone 9, the home of a Burundian refugee. The police seized all the drugs that were there, its owner and an employee were arrested. The house that served as a pharmacy has been closed,” said a resident of the area.

Pharmacies work as places of treatment or consultation.

“For example, we have seen tablets being sold next to foodstuffs, people buying medicines without a medical prescription, etc. Worse still, we found a patient on a drip in one of the closed pharmacies. This is unacceptable,” explained medical volunteers from Medical Team International.

They recommend that any refugee who feels ill should go to a known dispensary or health post.

MTI recently replaced the Red Cross in the area of ​​health in this camp.
It wants to introduce changes which, according to this NGO, target performance and preservation of the right to health for all refugees.

This camp has more than 110,000 refugees, including more than 50,000 Burundians, the rest being Congolese.