Are Pharmaceutical Supplies Stalling in the Public Health Sector?

Kevin Bernard

There are similar concerns being raised regarding the tendering and procurement of pharmaceutical supplies.  A list of various items was recited to the Minister of Health and Wellness this morning, and while he could not confirm the availability of those prescribed drugs, he gave assurances that come next year, the tendering cycle will not see the kind of logistical challenges be faced presently.

Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health & Wellness

“I will not be able to tell you offhand the list of what you got and where you got it from, I don‘t know.  But I can tell you that I‘m not denying the fact that there are medications that are still coming into country and these are being supplied and these are, like I said, thousands upon thousands of dollars of shipment have been, in fact, coming in country today by another supplier which is one of the major suppliers that also distributes some of these items.  So as they come in, they have to be inspected.  Our drug inspectorate has been tasked that they need to ensure as well the timeline that they take to do these inspections can be improved, so that we can get these items out to the regions, out to the KHMH, out to the facilities.  I came into this ministry at a tender cycle that had gone through a perfect storm and I am saying that we need, we have gotten, we have understood that cycle and we are making sure that we are making amends to improve for the next cycle so that we do not have to come back next year with the same issue.  I guarantee the Belizean people that next year when it comes to the new tender cycle we are not going to have this discussion once again.”