— gov’t aims to stay ahead of shortages, prevent wastage of drugs

GUYANA’S medicinal needs are expected to be remedied by June, as intensive procurement efforts are being made to supply the local health sector with medicines and medical supplies amid the forced, large-scale disposal of expired drugs, valued in excess of $1 billion.

“The (PPP/C) government has already made significant progress in meeting the needs of the health sector and we expect that by June 2021, the medicine and medical supplies situation will be stabilised, moving from a 80 per cent shortage in August 2021 to about 30 per cent presently and to 0 to five per cent by June 2021,” Adviser at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, highlighted in a statement on Friday.

The shortage would have been remedied in a shorter period, but the adviser noted that lengthy tendering and international procurement processes along with the COVID-19-related shipping delays resulted in a lengthier stabilisation period than was previously anticipated.

The issue of drug shortages is one that has plagued the local health sector for quite some time. The adviser highlighted that from August 2020 to the present day, the incumbent administration was forced to dump more than $1 billion worth of medicines and medical supplies. These supplies were disposed of since the drugs and supplies in storage had expired.

Of those supplies that have not yet been disposed of, Dr. Ramsammy lamented that a “significant amount” have short shelf-life, while the modern warehouse management information system (MACS) had not been kept up to date.

Furthermore, Dr. Ramsammy also highlighted that the Health Ministry’s Materials Management Unit (MMU), located at Diamond on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD), was reportedly unable to meet the needs of the health sector, thereby forcing the regional health authorities to procure the supplies needed through single-sourcing.

CHRONIC MEDICINE AND MEDICAL SUPPLY SHORTAGES
“This situation led to chronic medicine and medical supply shortages…. Not only were medicines in short supply, but virtually all the priority medicines were at zero stock levels,” he said.

These medicines, according to him, included antiretroviral medicines for HIV, tuberculosis medicines, insulin and metformin for diabetes, critical hypertension medicines, critical medicines and supplies for the operating theatres, anaesthetics for dental services, HIV test kits and chemistry reagents for the laboratory and others.

Importantly, the adviser noted that the MMU is disposing of more than $1 billion of medicines last week alone. Newly expired medicines, he said, are being disposed of every month. He also alleged that the previous administration had about $5 to $10 billion worth in expired drugs.

DRUG TENDERS

“We do have issues with some medications being short, and that’s a problem we have inherited, and what has compounded the problem is that drugs weren’t ordered for many years; in the bond itself there were lots of expired drugs,” Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony also said on Friday.

To meet the needs of the health sector, he noted that the government has issued emergency tenders for the procurement of drugs. In his statement, Dr. Ramsammy explained that there is an emergency selective tender utilising 10 selected suppliers that have been evaluated and the ministry is awaiting an award to begin the procurement of a two-month supply of medicines and other supplies. Additionally, he related that there are also two open tenders: one for a four-month supply of drugs and one for a further 10-month supply.

He also emphasised that there was no sole-sourcing of drugs. Instead, he explained that the “selective tender” process was used to meet the demand for drugs and supplies that could not be supplied by the in-country supplies of local suppliers

“Once all these medicines start coming in, whatever shortages [we have], we’ll alleviate them and our intention is to keep buying, so that we can replenish before we run short,” Dr. Anthony emphasised, adding: “We have to stabilise the situation now…. It is a big problem that we have inherited and we have corrected a substantial part of it.”

He also highlighted that the large procurement of drugs — hundreds of varying types of drugs, at that — can be challenging to get in stock and then distribute them to the regions.