Question NW2355 to the Minister of Health
11 August 2015 - NW2355
Volmink, Mr HC to ask the Minister of Health
(1)For each provincial department of health, (a) who signs off on the (i) tenders and (ii) payments for medication and (b)(i) which pharmaceutical companies are used and (ii) why; (2) with regard to the current medicine shortages, what (a) are the details of each case where the shortages are due to procurement issues and (b) went wrong in each case; (3) whether any of the medicine shortages were due or in part due to acquiring medicines that were not affordable; if so, what are the relevant details; (4) how does his department ensure that the acquisition of medicines is financially viable?
Reply:
(1) (a) (i) The following provinces do not have provincial contracts:
- Free State, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Northern Cape and North West.
Officials in provinces who sign off on provincial tenders are:
- Eastern Cape: Depot Manager and Director: Supply Chain Management.
- KwaZulu-Natal: Head of Department.
- Gauteng: Chairperson of the Provincial Bid Adjudication Committee.
- Western Cape: Officials according to financial delegations.
(ii) Provincial officials who sign off on the payments for medication are:
- Eastern Cape: Director: Finance at the depot.
- Free State: CEO, Depot Manager, Head of Pharmaceutical Services and Finance Manager, according to financial delegations.
- Gauteng: Director: Finance at the medical supplies depot.
- KwaZulu-Natal: Assistant Manager: Pharmaceutical supply depot.
- Limpopo: Senior Manager: Pharmaceutical Services and Financial Manager.
- Mpumalanga: Chief Financial Officer.
- Northern Cape: Director: Financial Services, Depot Manager, Deputy Director: Finance, Administrative Officers and Clerks according to financial delegations.
- North West: Head of Department, Chief Financial Officer and Director: Supply Chain Management.
- Western Cape: Assistant Director as Head of Finance Division at the depot.
(b) (i) The list of pharmaceutical companies is attached as Annexure A.
(ii) The companies are contracted using a competitive bidding process. Provinces purchase medicines from these contracted suppliers unless there is a breach of contract.
(2) (a) & (b) Medicine shortage is never a permanent problem. It changes almost everyday. Please supply the list of medicines which you believe we are short of and we will provide you with a reason.
(3) No. Medicines procured on tender are either approved essential medicines or formulary items reviewed by Provincial Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics Committees. The approval of an essential medicine includes a systematic evaluation of affordability which involves application of various pharmaco-economic tools.
(4) In the tendering process a competitive bidding process is used. Prior to advertisement of tender, provinces submit estimates and sign off on the estimated expenditure. In addition, price negotiations are entered into before a tender is finalised.
END.