---
title: "GroundUp photo essay: Empty medicine shelves of a Gauteng hospital"
description: "Gauteng hospitals are suffering severe medicine stockouts. Here are photos that GROUNDUP has obtained of the empty shelves of a pharmacy in a Gauteng tertiary hospital. All the medicines shown (or, to be more precise, not shown) are used to treat psychiatric conditions."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "South Africa"
author: "GroundUp"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/groundup/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2014-12-14-groundup-photo-essay-empty-medicine-shelves-of-a-gauteng-hospital/"
published: "2014-12-14T22:20:10"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 154
---

# GroundUp photo essay: Empty medicine shelves of a Gauteng hospital

> Gauteng hospitals are suffering severe medicine stockouts. Here are photos that GROUNDUP has obtained of the empty shelves of a pharmacy in a Gauteng tertiary hospital. All the medicines shown (or, to be more precise, not shown) are used to treat psychiatric conditions.

By GroundUp · Published 15 December 2014, 00:20 SAST

## Content

Last week [The Times reported stockouts at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital](http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2014/12/05/medicine-chest-at-bara-is-bare-again). On Monday, GroundUp reported that [Gauteng hospitals had been out of stock of the life-saving medicine amphotericin B](http://groundup.org.za/article/life-saving-aids-medicine-out-stock-gauteng_2516).

The photos here, obtained from a protected source, are understood to be a little more than a week old.

![amytriptyline](//www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/465x349q70amytriptyline.jpg)

[Amitriptyline](http://www.drugs.com/amitriptyline.html) is used to treat depression.

![citalopram](//www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/465x349q70citalopram.jpg)

[Citalopram](http://www.drugs.com/citalopram.html) is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor used to treat depression.

![haloperidol](//www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/465x349q70haloperidol.jpg)

[Haloperidol](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haloperidol) is an antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses.

![quetiapine](//www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/465x349q70quetiapine.jpg)

[Quetiapine](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a698019.html) is an antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and severe depression.

![risperidone](//www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/465x349q70risperidone.jpg)

[Risperidone](http://www.drugs.com/risperidone.html) is an antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is also used to treat children with autism.

![trifluoperazine](//www.dailymaverick.co.za/images/resized_images/465x349q70trifluoperazine.jpg)

[Trifluoperazine](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a682121.html), besides being an antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia, is also used to treat anxiety if other medicines have not helped. **DM**

*Main Picture: Fluoxetine, better known by the brand name Prozac, is used to treat depression. Photos courtesy of GROUNDUP.*