Georgetown : Cabinet has approved the sum of seven hundred million dollars for the purchase of essential drugs and other medicine supplies for health facilities in all ten administrative regions.
The Ministry of Public Health has reported that existing stocks are expected to last until the end of this month, and arrangements will be fast-tracked to deal with any emergency situations.
On January 12th, Cabinet was briefed about current stock levels of pharmaceuticals and other medicine supplies in the health sector, and approved monies to buy medication to treat any outbreak of H1N1 viral influenza. The government has approached a single source to provide the medication as a precaution in the event that anyone should be at risk from the viral influenza which reportedly has affected persons in some neighbouring states.
In approving $700M for fresh supplies, the Guyana Government has opted to implement fair and open bidding process for all suppliers in the pharmaceutical industry to get an opportunity to secure contracts.
Whilst in opposition, both the APNU and AFC, which now form the six-party coalition have declared that when elected they would end the discriminatory practice of sole sourcing of medical supplies.
The Ministry of Health has received support from the USAID to develop a new standard for an open, competitive bidding system. A bidding document to this effect was approved by the National Tender Administration Board following which a pre-bid meeting with all potential bidders was held on December 16th 2015.
A multi-billion pre-qualification, sole sourcing, contract with the new GPC ended in October, 2015.
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