–with aid of new logistics manual

THE Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) has received a Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) Manual which the authorities say will help broaden the layman’s understanding of the sector and encourage more consistent scientific forecasting by professionals.

According to a press statement from the Ministry, the manual was developed and produced through support from the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) and funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
USAID Country Director, Ms. Caroline Healey, explained during the handing-over ceremony held at the MOPH Brickdam office, that insight from the document will put an end to stock outs and the expiration of medicines, and help guarantee that drugs, pharmaceuticals and medical supplies reach the beneficiaries at the right time, at the right place, at the right quality, and at the right price.
Healey said her agency was enthusiastic to embrace the strengthening of the health-supply chain from the MOPH to the 10 administrative regions.
Describing the manual as the “tool kit” for health sector employees, Healey predicted that following its guidelines will help eliminate the systemic difficulties which affect the local public health system.

MOPH Director of Regional Health Services (RHS), Dr. Kay Shako said the ‘tool kit’ will assist healthcare providers and ordinary citizens to get an insight into the workings of the public health system so they can better appreciate the challenges endemic to the system.
“It will help underscore the reasons for shortages; not just perception but reality. It is enriched with information sufficient to coerce us to unlearn previous misconceptions about the supply chain management system, and adopt a new approach through an educated and informed position,” Dr. Shako said.
Healthcare providers within the primary care system play a pivotal role in how medicines and medical supplies should be managed, from the time of arrival to the health facilities, to the time they are dispensed to patients, Dr. Shako explained in the Foreword of the First Edition of the LMIS Manual.

She said the system is designed to ensure usage is monitored, and to help inform decisions “when (and how much) drugs and medical supplies should be ordered”.
This helps healthcare providers to know precisely how to comply with LMIS to ensure “an adequate, efficient and effective supply of medicines and medical supplies at all health care facilities,” Dr. Shako wrote in the Foreword.
She said the manual outlines the procedures all health care providers must follow when reordering, receiving, storing, distributing or dispensing pharmaceuticals and health products within the public health supply chain.
“Further, every citizen in Guyana after reading this manual will understand the drivers of medicine and medical supplies shortages. Health care providers who ‘work the system’ must understand how critical it is to maintain the basic structure at every health facility in Guyana,” Dr. Shako said, adding:
“I personally take pride in seeing all health facilities be supplied with an adequate amount of medicines so that every Guyanese citizen can have the appropriate care that is intended. I am concerned when citizens are being told they cannot be treated at a particular health facility because there are no medicines,” Dr. Shako said.
The manuals will be distributed to all public health facilities nationwide.