President Advocate Duma Gideon Boko has declared a State of Public Health Emergency  blowing the whistle on a staggering medicines procurement scandal that has rocked Botswana’s healthcare system.

In a televised national address, Boko revealed that the Central Medical Stores (CMS) quoted P705 million for a year’s supply of medicines—while a government task force sourced the same supply for under P80 million. The price gap of more than P600 million has raised serious questions about corruption, inefficiency, and profiteering in the public health sector.

“The current prices of medicines are often inflated five to 10 times. Under the current economic conditions, this scenario is not sustainable,” Boko said, calling the situation intolerable and unsustainable.

To confront the crisis, Boko announced a P5 billion emergency health fund, with an initial P100 million injection from the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC). The fund will be used to stabilise drug availability, overhaul procurement systems, and restore public confidence in the health sector.

The President outlined a four-step recovery plan: Emergency stabilisation of medicine supply chains, led by the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), restructuring CMS procurement systems for transparency and accountability, independent forensic audits of past tenders and contracts and Establishment of a permanent oversight mechanism to prevent future abuse

Boko acknowledged that the cost of medical supplies already exceeds P1 billion annually, but much of it is lost to inflated tenders, broken distribution systems, and systemic waste.

“This marks the beginning of a new era of accountability. We will not allow negligence and profiteering to continue at the expense of our people’s health,” Boko said.