Efficient chain supply system critical for effective health care delivery – Minister Ramsammy

Source: Guyana Chronicle, 21st August 2008

GOVERNMENT during 2008 will be spending about $2.5B for the procurement of medicine and medical supplies which is an essential requirement in the delivery of quality health care services.

Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, said Guyana over the years has developed a very proficient system for the procurement and distribution of goods and medical supplies.

“Government has been allocating more and more money annually for the procurement of medicine and medical supplies because we are cognizant that adequate supplies of drugs and effective chain supply system, meaning that drugs have to reach all health facilities on time, are two very important aspects for proper health care delivery. People do not realise that effective health care delivery do not mean only having enough doctors and nurses but also equipping doctors and nurses with the tools for them to work with,” the Health Minister said.

He said Guyana has one of the most modern patient care and safety system in place at all health care facilities across the country, noting that an enormous amount of supplies is being used to ensure patients’ safety.

“Health-care workers have been trained to change their gloves after every patient and to change the syringes after every use. We never in Guyana reuse a syringe so you can imagine the number of syringes that is used in the sector; it is enormous and it is not just for injection of medicines but it is also used when blood specimens for laboratory work…We also use syringes when vaccines are given and so this is a huge expenditure for the health sector,” Minister Ramsammy explained.

He noted that Guyana is an example to other countries which are beneficiaries of the President’s Plan for Emergency AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) as the country has been able to develop an excellent procurement, distribution and shortage system.

For the first time, goods and medicines such as vaccines are stored in a cold storage facility. This is a fully computerised system which also allows for timely procurement of new supplies.

“The supply chain that we have in place also includes a distribution network so we have developed a distribution capacity. We have, over the years, improved on this and have replaced the old system which was very time consuming in drug distribution,” the Minister noted.

Apart from the money being allocated by Government for the procurement of goods, the health sector is also benefitting from its HIV, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria grants.

“I think Guyanese need to reflect a little because back in 1991, Guyana spent less than $100M on medical supplies, today we have increased that to about $2B,” the Minister said.