MOH involves private companies in drug purchase
The Ministry of Health (MoH) is, for the first time, involving private companies in the procurement of drugs for the Central Medical Stores (CMS).
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The objective is to ensure efficiency.
The ministry is also in the process of engaging a private company to see to the distribution of the drugs to health facilities across the country.
Addressing the first private health sector summit in Accra yesterday, the Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, said the action was to ensure the purchase and prompt distribution of quality drugs at all times to forestall situations where drugs got expired at the CMS.
The CMS, located in Tema, is a government warehouse where drugs procured for distribution to public and other health facilities are stored.
Health summit
The summit, organised by the MoH, in collaboration with the Private Health Sector Alliance of Ghana (PHSAG), was on the theme: “Strengthening partnership with the private health sector to improve health outcomes”.
It was supported by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
Ms Ayittey, who also launched the Private Health Sector Development Policy, announced that the CMS was being restructured to ensure that drugs sent there were promptly distributed.
She pointed out that investing in the health sector was not limited to just improving the efficiency of nurses and doctors and ensuring quality drugs but also about addressing the inequalities in governance and management of the sector.
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Private participation
The Vice-President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Danadams Pharmaceuticals, a local drug manufacturing company, Dr Yaw Adu-Agyei Gyamfi, on behalf of the private sector promised the MoH that it was ready to work with the public sector.
He said, however, that the private sector was faced with numerous challenges which needed to be surmounted.
He said the sector was ready to help the country achieve its goals in the area of healthcare delivery but called for a more favourable policy environment.
A representative of the IFC, Dr Khama Rogo, who spoke on ‘Leveraging the private sector for sustainable health development and financing’, said an effective collaboration between the public and the private sectors could help the country achieve its target of delivering quality health care to the people.
He, therefore, called for new strategies that would incorporate the private sector in public health delivery.
The Minister of Trade and Industries, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, who chaired the opening session of the summit, called on well-known pharmaceutical companies to package themselves in readiness to source government’s support.
Writer's email-rebecca.quaicoe-duho@.graphic.com.gh