As the government fiscal year is slowly moving toward the end, it has been established that the country would require drugs worthy over K32 billion ( U$ ) in the next financial year to curb persistent shortage of drugs.

The budget has risen from K6.6 billion.

 This emanates from a comprehensive drug availability analysis done by players in the health sector released on Tuesday.

According to Director of Planning and Policy Development in the Ministry of Health Dr Dalitso Kabamba, the analysis has found that funding for drug procurement has not been enough to cutter for the country’s 13 million population.

“This is our first time to come up with a drug availability analysis. We were not properly forecasting and providing for drug availability. Hence, the need to increase the (funding) allocation,” he said.

Frequent shortages and stock-outs have plagued the country’s health sector in recent years with patients being sent away for lack of essential medicines like pain-killers.