Cost Recovery bounces back
The Minister of Health and Sanitation Dr Austin Demby has on Friday 5th June, 2021 launched the public private partnership cost recovery pharmacy at the Connaught teaching hospital Freetown.
Speaking at the launch, the minister noted that the move was part of government’s commitment to improve the health sector using a new model of health care delivery that would be sustainable. “It is geared towards reducing the money people spend in buying drugs from private pharmacies in the country”, Dr Demby said.
He disclosed that Government had approved huge funding to the tune of seventy seventy-six billion Leones in addition to ten million dollars that would be used to upgrade all the hospitals in the country.
He explained that the would comprise three aspects, which would include upgrading of the physical structures of the hospitals; hiring and building the capacity of the work force and the provision of drugs.
He disclosed that the model would be replicated to other hospitals across the country and admonished health workers and pharmacists to be dedicated in their service.
“After Connaught, we will be moving to other hospitals around the country to look at new ways of doing business and for this project to be successful the pharmacists and health care workers have a major role to play which is to provide service to people”, he said.
The Focal person, Public Private Partnership for the cost recovery program at the Ministry of Health Cyrus Sheriff said the Ministry had been working on this project for over two years, and that the project had gone through all the legal processes in selecting the contractor.
“One of the key successes of attaining universal health coverage in Sierra Leone is the ability to reduce high cost of pocket expenditure on drugs” he stated.
He highlighted the benefits of the Public Private Partnership (PPP), noting that the private sector would ensure that there is regular supply of drugs faster than the normal government process.
He said the private sector would be procuring drugs which would be monitored and supported by the National Medical Supply Agency (NMSA) in the procurement process. “Drugs will be affordable and available at all times, and quality will be ensured with proper service delivery” he assured.
In his statement, the Director of Public Private Partnership, Office of the Vice President Abu Kamara said “we need total stakeholder engagement for the project to be successful and a pharmacy that is well equipped”.
The Operations Manager of the Marish Trading Company which is in charge of running the pharmacy, Abdulai Hussain, said they had refurbished the Connaught cost recovery facility to a state-of-the-art pharmacy”, noting that they had also fulfilled all pharmaceutical regulations and guidelines required by the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone.
By Emmanuel M. Kamara
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