May 2008

NGO Brings Relief to Ailing Roatanians

A non governmental organisation (NGO) has expanded into an indispensable contributor to the Roatan public health system within a year after the organisation by the name Medicines for Roatan began their operation. One NGO is responsible for supplying 20% of all medicines used at the Roatan hospital, about which the Honduran central government still has no clue. A Medicines for Roatan pamphlet reads, ”in theory patients at public health facilities in the Bay Islands are entitled to free medicines provided by the Ministry of health. In reality upto 50% i.e. about 45,000 patients go home without treatment each year”. The pamphlet further reads, ”this results in unnecessary suffering, disability and death”.
The 2007 Roatan public hospital pharmacy budget was scaled at $195,000, but they received only $ 135,000 worth of drugs from the government.
Medicines for Roatan added in the missing amount by providing 25,000 treatments. The Roatan Hospital has been regularly using these donated drugs as a fall back resource. Since the government sends drugs to all its hospitals on a quarterly basis, the last two weeks of every quarter i.e. every March, June, September and December are the times when medications at the hospital starts becoming scarce. Dr. Nora El Goulli, president of Medicines for Roatan recalls when her NGO filled in the gap in the supply of insulin, a life-saving drug for diabetics to 250 Roatan patients. She says, ”we had the medicines donated and FedEx-ed from Mexico”. El Goulli created an emergency fund of $2,500 for such situations.
One important aspect required for importing drugs to Honduras is that they have to possess atleast one year validity. However, some of the drugs donated to medical centers and clinics on Roatan comes packed in suitcases belonging to tourists and have sometimes crossed the expiry date. El Goulli states that these medications can be dangerous to administer to patients. She says ”Humid and hot conditions can break some drugs like aspirin or certain antibiotics into toxins. At the very least they can lose their potency and fail to treat the patient”.

Medicines for Roatan fetches over 100 prescription drugs by buying medicines at cost from intdernational non-profit drug suppliers. Dr. El Goulli says, ” we are focusing on the rice and beans medicines: penicillin, painkillers, antibiotics-high volume, low cost medicines”. The Honduran government still needs to provide all the less common and often more expensive drugs. One such drug is the cocktail of anti-HIV medications. Roatanians who are diagnosed with HIV on Roatan range from a 14-year old girl to an 87-year old woman. According to Dr. Cruz, ”Family brought her in while she was in a coma, then took her back before we received results to the tests”.

It costs the Honduran government Lps. 24000 or $1,240 per patient in a year to provide anti-HIV treatment. The patients on Roatan are mostly women and they receive medications for free. The number of patients taking the medication has risen from 10 to 35 adults and 5 children since October 2005.