No more sole sourcing of drugs in 2017

Dec 12, 2016 News

– Junior Health Minister

In registering her unremitting support for the 2017 budget, Dr. Karen Cummings, junior Minister of Public Health assured the National Assembly that next year Guyana will see the elimination of the sole sourcing of drugs in the Public Health sector.
During her 2017 budget debate presentation last week, Cummings said that within the budget, $6.5B has been allocated for the procurement of medicine and medical supplies. Cummings assured the House that this money will be judiciously spent and meticulously accounted for as the government ventures into 2017.
“The Ministry of Public Health has embraced a new procurement paradigm, called open competitive bidding. No more sole sourcing of medicines and medical supplies as a routine will occur within the Ministry of Public Health.”
According to the Minister, she has made careful note of comments by the opposition, the People’s Progressive Party Civic, regarding procurement. She therefore moved to announce that a procurement department is currently being established within the Ministry.

Junior Minister of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings

“For 19 months we have wrestled with this beast called procurement; sole sourcing; this creature from the past has been the bane of the Ministry since its inception. The Ministry of Public Health is finally removing sole sourcing from being its sole option for procurement of medicines and medical supplies.”
In addition to this, Cummings said that the Ministry plans to address the issue of storage in a comprehensive manner, as well as the distribution systems which will be assisted by the Supplies Chain Management Systems (SCMS) using data driven information in order to have a consistent supply of drugs while simultaneously reducing wastage.
When in government, the PPP/C had practiced sole sourcing, whereby billions of dollars in medical drugs were procured from the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation (New GPC), a company owned by Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop.
Going further to inform the House of what positives to expect from Budget 2017, Minister Cummings said that to ensure that all health facilities are structurally sound and aesthetically pleasing, $2B has been allocated for infrastructure.
“In this regard, some of the health care facilities will be transformed to better accommodate the people of their communities including the differently able.”
Particular emphasis is expected to be placed on health facilities at the district level, along with the establishment and improvement of comfortable living quarters. It is hoped that this will attract the best medical personnel to work in areas such as Baramita, Kamarang, Mahdia, Port Kaituma and Annai.
Additionally, Cummings said that greater attention will be given to Maternal Child health. She said US$8M will be used to finance a project that will contribute significantly towards the reduction in maternal, perinatal and neonatal deaths.
“Through a number of innovative capacity building exercises, the Ministry of Public Health will be working at strengthening the primary medical health care provider in regions three, four and nine. The provision of this enhanced health care in these areaa will commence through a US$8M project.”
According to Cummings, one component of this project is to improve the supply chain for new types of contraceptives, drugs and blood products.
To address mental health, Cummings said that over the past 19 months, the Ministry has established for the first time in the nation’s history, a mental health unit. She said that the unit was established earlier this year, and is adequately staffed with competent staff. Further, she said that in 2016, over 250 persons received training from the institution and it is expected that in 2017 over 300 persons will be trained, inclusive of members in civil society.
She said that it is important that the nation continues to address mental health issues holistically, so that the stigma and discrimination can be removed and persons can feel free to seek the help they need.