Strategy to improve distribution of medication to health facilities being implemented
A plan to turn around medical supplies and the medical depot is in full swing. The MEC for Health, Dr Magome Masike announced that the Department has conducted an assessment which showed that availability of pharmaceutical and medical related items have been affected by two main factors which are availability and distribution of stock.
He said, “in terms of availability of stock from suppliers, this is affecting stock levels at the Medical Depot while with regard to distribution of stock from the Medical Depot, this is affecting availability at health facilities”.
The department has since started with implementation of several measures. Effort is also being made to mitigate against challenges encountered with supplier performance and to improve on distribution from the Medical Depot to the facilities.
A closed bid for procurement of pharmaceutical and medical related items which are not on contract or not available from contracted suppliers is being arranged as one of the intervention measures. An open bid is also being arranged for a Provincial Database for Pharmaceuticals and Surgicals which will be advertised very soon.
A special emphasis on measures to improve distribution from the Depot has also been undertaken. To this end, two (2) distributors for transportation of stock from the Depot to the facilities have been appointed. This has addressed transport challenges which were previously encountered.
Dr Masike emphasized the need to have more hands to deal with workload at the depot. “In addition, we also appointed ten contract workers (ASOs) from the 1st February to strengthen Depot operations particularly Dispatch Unit for distribution. Significant progress has been achieved in clearing the distribution backlog. Progress has also been achieved towards proper house-keeping which is also essential for distribution to be enhanced”, said MEC Masike.
One element key to availability of medication being distribution schedule, is being reviewed together with the Districts and implementation of the revised schedule (bi-weekly schedule) was scheduled for April and conducted after end of the financial year stock take. A dedicated team has been set up for issuing orders for ARVs, TB drugs and vaccines and emergency orders are processed when received and due to availability of transport they are delivered daily.
The MEC indicated he was happy with progress and said, “because of these interventions, availability of EDL medicines has improved from 70% in the 1st quarter to 74,5% in the 4th quarter”.
Enquiries:
Tebogo Lekgethwane
Cell: 082 929 9958
E-mail: tlekgethwane@nwpg.gov.za
