Create an efficient medical supplies system, government calls

Deputy Health Minister Faustine Ndugulile speaks during the meeting of Global Health Supply Chain Performance Driven by Data Innovation held in Dar es Salaam yesterday. PHOTO | ANTHONY SIAME

Dar es Salaam. The government has challenged drug experts in the country to create a data system that will help to control supply of medicines and medical equipment in the country.

Health deputy minister Faustine Ndugulile said yesterday in the city that having a system that accurately determines stock levels is crucial towards enhancing efficiency and bringing about cost-effectiveness in the sub-sector.

Dr Ndugulile made the remarks at the second Future of Tanzania Health Supply Chain Performance summit themed “Data Driven and Innovation” that brought stakeholders from across the country.

According to Dr Ndugulile, such a system will help to guide in the preparedness and hence effectively contain disease outbreaks.

“When there was dengue outbreak, there were challenges of delays of sending testing kits, but had there been a system, this would not have been a problem,” he said.

“I’m not saying the government is not doing well, in fact we are doing well in prevention of outbreaks and supply of medicines, but we can do better,” said Dr Ndugulile.

He added that such a system could also be handy in ensuring that there is no Ebola outbreak in the country, because there will be accurate information on what is happening in every corner of the country.

He further explained that the government has increased the budget for purchasing medicine from Sh30 billion to Sh270 billion, as well as expanded the Medical Stores Department (MSD) fleet capacity by purchasing more vehicles.

For his part, Chief Pharmacists Daudi Msasi said the “health revolution commodity fund guideline” was almost ready and was awaiting for signatures to be appended to them for easy accessibility of medicine and medical equipment.