Patients diagnosed with bilharzia in Pietermaritzburg are being forced to buy costly, privately prepared medication after struggling to access the standard treatment at public health facilities. Bilharzia, also known as schistosomiasis, is a parasitic disease that mainly affects children and people living in communities with limited access to safe water. The disease is treated using praziquantel, a drug listed by both the World Health Organisation (WHO) and South Africa’s Department of Health as an essential medicine that should be readily available at public facilities.
However, patients and pharmacists say the medication has been difficult to obtain for months, leaving many with no option but to turn to private pharmacies where alternative or compounded versions of the drug can cost R600 or more. According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), the National Department of Health was informed by the sole supplier, Bayer (Pty) Ltd, of the depletion of stock of praziquantel 600mg tablets for the public sector in October 2024. While the department reportedly sourced stock of an alternative pack size by the end of April last year, patients continue to report ongoing shortages.
A 64-year-old Pietermaritzburg resident told The Witness that after being diagnosed, his doctor warned him about the difficulty of accessing treatment. I started going to various pharmacies in the city looking for this medication and almost all of them didn’t have it. “Some told me the medication was only available in certain African countries and very difficult to find in South Africa,” he said.
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He eventually found an alternative — but at a steep price. “I had to pay R600 cash for a privately prepared option because the prescribed medication, which costs much less and is covered by medical aid, is not available anywhere in the country,” he said. The resident, who asked not to be named, said he was deeply concerned that treatment for a common and preventable disease was effectively out of reach for many South Africans.
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