Medical Depot: The institutions visited raised a number of issues about the Medical Depot, including not having stock of TB medication and "basic medication". At one institution, the pharmacist in charge had to improvise medication using existing stock because TB syrup was not available. However, according to the department the Medical Depot was operating as it should. There was a lead time of 6-8 weeks and institutions were not placing their orders timeously. Institutions were not supposed to wait till the last of their medication was depleted before ordering. Also there were problems with National tenders and there were times when the supplier was out of stock. Furthermore, the Depot required timeous payment from institutions however this was not always happening. The system needed review in terms of cash flow. R40 million was advanced to the Depot in June 2010 and, according to the department, it was not experiencing major financial constraints. A new management structure was proposed for the Depot and the department was also considering outsourcing the Depot.