Paulina Quintao – There are calls for the Health Ministry to change the medication procurement system and introduce a specific process to address the lack of medication stocks at health facilities.
National MP Virgilio da Costa Hornai said health facilities continued to run out of medicine of every year as the procurement system was too slow, an issue that has still not been resolved.
"We need to find a company that we trust and then directly assign the contract to import medicine every six months to ensure the supply and quality of medication," he said during a plenary session recently.
The Autonomous Drug and Medical Equipment Service (SAMES) previously used a specific procurement system for medication supply, but in 2013 the government dissolved the agency due to irregularities.
Between 2013 and 2015 the Ministry of Health took over responsibility for medication supply, using a general procurement regime.
Under this system, the company contracted supplied medication at the end of each year in large quantities, which meant much of the stock expired before being used.
Hornai said the lack of medicine was not about bad management, but because the previous procurement law did give SAMES authorization to make direct decisions related to supply issues.
In response to the concerns, the government recently handed back responsibility for the supply of medicines to SAMES.
"It was officially announced two months ago and SAMES is now responsible for medication supply," said representative for the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Issues Nelio Isaac Sarmento. "We hope that by next year we can resolve this problem," he said.
During a visit to the SAMES storage warehouse last month, The Dili Weekly observed five containers of medicine imported by Indonesia's PT Raconindo Company.