Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Health, David Tshere, has this week poured scorn on Health Minister, Dr Edwin Dikoloti’s revelation that Government intends to privatise the Central Medical Stores (CMS).
Tshere said privatizing CMS will be a reverse of achievements made in empowering Batswana in medicine procurement.
“Once the minister says this publicly, you should know that it is a done deal and therefore our medicine procurement will be done by a politically connected company, which has connections outside the country. Batswana will be pushed out of business once this happens,” he said further taking a swipe at what he viewed as unfair influence by the Baylor College of Medicine: “I thought the engagement of Baylor College of Medicine was temporary and we would go back to our normal procurement procedures. Does this mean that our medicine procurement is now run from Texas University?,” he wondered.
Tshere added that CMS should have autonomous facilities across the country with a mandate to procure medicines independently.
During the same briefing, Professor Mogomotsi Matshaba of Baylor College of Medicine said procurement of medicines was a complex exercise, but was made even more difficult by procurement regulations in Botswana, further suggesting a review of the Public Procurement Act.
“I think we also need to review the PPADB Act, look at how it handles things like vaccines, differently from buying a loaf of bread as an example, and then how do we get to medicines,” he said.
Dikoloti said procurement of medicines and supply chain were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The challenge of being a small population is yet another factor affecting our ability to procure medicines. We fail to make enough quantities to the interest of manufacturers,” he said.
Dr Edwin Dikoloti was in high spirits this week announcing the arrival of drug consignments that are presumably on the way to government hospitals across the country.
The minister told journalists at a media briefing that more consignments were on their way. “I did mention during my last address that we had engaged Baylor College of Medicine to assist us get some of our most required medications quicker. I am happy to report that since my last address in November that this collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine is bearing fruits,” he said, confirming the arrival of the first batch worth P1, 660 740.00.
“The second batch of cancer medicines with 10 list items at a cost of ZAR 5,403,840.00 is in order. The third consignment sourced through IDA foundation comprising 65 line items with most commonly antibiotics, hypertension, diabetes medicines, and other commodities to the tune of USD 1, 475,447.65 will be air freighted from Netherlands this week and is expected before end of January,” the minister said further noting that other consignments worth hundreds of millions of Pula will be delivered during the first quarter of the year to stabilise the supply situation.
“It is important to mention that the receiving, warehousing, and distribution of these medicines and medical commodities is done by our contracted company – Botswana Post as you have seen during the tour. On average Botswana Post makes more than 10 deliveries per day”.
EXPECTED MEDICINES IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS
*Cardiovascular medicines from Apotex via Baylor College of Medicine worth approximately P13 million
*IDA Foundation via Baylor College of Medicine worth approximately P14 million.
*Two consignments of different types of vaccine through UNICEF worth approximately P18 million.
*TB medicines from United Nations Office for Projects worth approximately P1.2 million.
*Order of 18 products from Medwise (India) worth approximately P9.2 million.
*Procurement of 79 line items from Hester Bioscience P45 million.
*Medicines and commodities for inpatient care worth approximately P119.4 million.
