By NATION REPORTER
A TENDER for the procurement, supply and delivery of Insulin and IV Fluids has been floated but Government has shunned local pharmaceutical manufacturing companies to participate in the tender in preference for foreign companies, it has been revealed.
But former Resident Doctors Association of Zambia (RDAZ) Dr Brian Sampa says it is not surprising that government is shunning local suppliers in the procurement of drugs because the party in government has made it a policy to support foreign businesses at the expense of local suppliers.
The government has instead decided to procure the drugs from outside the country through some middlemen despite local players having the stocks and ready to supply and deliver.
Sources have revealed that while government has decided to procure Insulin and IV Fluids from outside the country and creating jobs in those countries, some local pharmaceutical companies with the drugs are closing and citizens were losing jobs in preference to foreign suppliers.
The tender that was floated on Monday by the Zambia Medicines and Medical Supplies Agency (ZAMMSA) is expected to be closed in the next two weeks after which bidders will be selected.
Government has admitted that there is a critical shortage of medicines and other medical supplies in the country and yet the procurement system has been marred with politics since October last year, resulting into the country experiencing critical shortage of essential medicines and other medical supplies.
Sources have revealed that Government is shunning stocks of Insulin and IV Fluid from local pharmaceutical manufacturers which are ready to supply and deliver as demanded and at the earliest time, in the right quantities, but for reasons that are more political than procurement procedures, the local players have not been invited.
The source said instead of ZAMMSA inviting local suppliers, the agency has only asked them to try and participate and are not sure if their bids would be considered.
“The Zambia Medicines and Medical supplies Agency has just floated a tender today (yesterday) for the procurement, supply and delivery of Insulin and IV Fluids. The tender closes in the next two week.
“Government has yet again not invited local pharmaceutical who have the drugs in stock and ready to be supplied and delivered. It looks like a decision has been made to shun local suppliers for political reasons.
“It is the politics in the procurement of drugs that has caused the continued shortage of medicines and other medical supplies. The drugs government wishes to source from outside Zambia are locally available,” the source said.
But Dr Sampa has said that government was shunning local suppliers because the Ministry of Health had become too political and was sidelining all those that were perceived to have been aligned to the previous administration.
He said the reason the Ministry of Health was avoiding local pharmaceutical manufactures was that those in the procurement process could solicit for bribes.
Dr Sampa said that all those firms that were deemed to be close to the Patriotic Front were left even if they had the capacity to deliver the goods.
“The Ministry of Health has become too political where they are now imagining all local suppliers that were supplying government before the UPND took over were serving the PF. They have decided to punish local suppliers who have the drugs and capacity to supply. These local suppliers are stuck with their stocks of the drugs yet Zambians who need the drugs are suffering,” Dr Sampa said.
On Friday last week, Charles Milupi, the acting Minister of Heath at the time admitted that there was a critical and persistent shortage of essential medicines and other medical supplies across the country, including the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), Zambia’s largest referral hospital as well as Levy Mwanawasa hospital.
Mr Milupi’s revelations on the status of drugs in the country is however centrally to what Health Minister Sylvia Masebo has been saying over the months that hospitals and other health facilities were adequately stocked with essential medicines and other medical supplies.
The Ministry of Health has thrice cancelled tenders for the procurement, supply and delivery of essential drugs including Insulin and IV Fluids claiming that it was cleaning the system to rid middlemen.
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