The Medical Supply Organization (MSO), which was established in 2009 and entrusted with the functions of the former National Medicine Company, faces many difficulties in performing its tasks, including the provision of medicines and medical supplies and providing equipment to the health sector.

The MSO’s inability to carry out its duties was the direct cause of the acute shortage of essential medicines and vaccinations in Libyan cities, especially Tripoli, which forced residents to travel to neighboring countries to vaccinate their children.

The Medical Supply Organization (MSO), which was established in 2009 and entrusted with the functions of the former National Medicine Company, faces many difficulties in performing its tasks, including the provision of medicines and medical supplies and providing equipment to the health sector.

The MSO’s inability to carry out its duties was the direct cause of the acute shortage of essential medicines and vaccinations in Libyan cities, especially Tripoli, which forced residents to travel to neighboring countries to vaccinate their children.

Khaled Eshtewi, Head of the MSO, said the problem has been temporarily resolved yet he addresses several other important pieces of information in the following interview.

Khaled Eshtewi, have you been able to meet the needs for the current year?

It is difficult to provide all hospital requirements due to the obstacles against the MSO’s work including budget allocation and a credit opening delay –  credits were opened last year at US $267, 498 and 80% were claimed while this year’s credits were transferred to the Central Bank and are still being processed.

However, we achieved great success in providing the needs of most hospitals and medical facilities at this stage despite the shortcomings in medical equipment provision and maintenance due to poor financing.

We are facing numerous obstacles including the lack of stores and funding resources in addition to other regulatory issues as the MSO did not have an adequate opportunity to organize itself and its performance is poor.

Which medicines and supplies have you provided so far?

I assure the Libyans that all the vaccinations needed for this year have been provided. We are also able to provide large amounts of dialysis devices which will be sufficient for months in addition to tumor drugs, laboratory equipment, X-ray films and supplies of neurological surgery and cerebral catheter. Work is underway to provide internal and external orthopedic fixings and cardiac surgery kits. Surgery sutures, enough for six months, were provided and will be distributed to hospitals within days. Large quantities of diabetes medicines also reached the MSO’s stores and allocations are being budgeted to supply additional quantities that meet the current year’s needs.

Why was the provision of medicines and vaccines delayed last year?

The delay was due to budget disbursement delay in addition to the delay in the provision of medicines and vaccines as the first amount was disbursed on 30 March 2015. The divided money amounts made it difficult for the MSO to take actions all at once especially under bureaucratic administration of allocations.

The 2016 budget has not been allocated yet except for 70,000,000 million euros deposited in the MSO’s account and is included in the freezing decision of the Libyan Reconciliation Government and has not been released so far despite addressing the concerned authorities and clarifying the matter’s seriousness.

It is circulated that the MSO has large debts and some companies stopped dealing with you. Is that true?

It is true. We have not been able to repay our great debts to foreign companies which amounted to 129,000,000 dinars (US $ 98, 217,000) in 2009 – 2014, which made it impossible for the MSO to deal with the same companies and forced it to search for alternative sources to meet its needs.

However, despite the difficulties and with the potentials available, we were able to provide significant quantities of vital medicines and vaccinations in an attempt to fill some of the deficit suffered by hospitals and health facilities.

The 2015 credit allocations were fully opened to provide the vaccines and vaccinations needed in 2016, which began to reach the airports successively and are being distributed to stores.

What are the resources urgently needed by the MSO to carry out its tasks?

The resources available, in fact, are very poor compared to the workload. Since its establishment, the MSO has not been granted the resources required to perform its job properly. We have shortage in funding, stores, vehicles and other logistic tools in addition to administrative deficiencies including regulations, laws, organizational structure and job descriptions.

We do not have adequate stores to stock drugs and the current sites are either rented or lent to us by other bodies. The only stores we own are located in Maya between Tripoli and Zawiya and due to the security conditions, the stores have not been utilized.