E-DRUG: Drug shortage feared as Uganda govt, WHO haggle over supplier (4)
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Dear e-Druggers,
While the article highlighted irregularities in the procurement,there is more to this than meets the eye.
Though the procurement of medicines has been taken over by selfish interest,some Multinational companies are also engaging in lobbying government institutions and ministries for procurement deals. Moreover some of the procurement rules in place are not practical, delay the procurement cycle and create opportunities for corruption and bribery. In some cases the ministries ignore expertise advice from people qualified to handle procurement and instead rely on less qualified people to do the job since these can be easily twisted into serving selfish interests of ministry officials.
It is not rare to find procurement and quantification activities carried out without involvement of Pharmacy division or Medical stores.
What needs to be done is a revision of procurement laws that encourage bribey
Involvement of the technical people qualified to carry out medicines procurement
Improvement of Logistics Management Information Systems to make well informed decisions
Regards
Maija Aziz (B.Pharm,MCIPS)
Uganda
AMaija@msh.org