On July 21, on the basis of the Anti-Corruption Service, at the initiative of the SK-Pharmacy LLP Single Distributor, a meeting was held on the issue of centralizing the medical equipment procurement. The meeting was held with the participation of the Deputy Head of the Prevention Service of the Agency Magauin D.K. and the Head of the Department of Anti-Corruption Monitoring Karipova A.T.
At the meeting, the measures taken to switch to centralized procurement of medical equipment in the Republic of Kazakhstan were presented. Currently, the main problems of the medical equipment supply system are insufficient equipment and a high level of depreciation of the existing equipment fleet, price dispersion when procuring medical equipment locally, insufficient development of domestic production of medical equipment and after-sales service. To solve these problems, it is planned to carry out a centralized procurement of medical equipment on the basis of SK-Pharmacy LLP in two stages. In the future, the Republican Program for medical equipping for the next five years will be approved with the definition of funding sources.
It should be recalled that the President of the country pointed to the high level of corruption in the system for procuring medical equipment and stressed the need to radically revise the procuring system of medical equipment. The Head of the State instructed to switch to a centralized procurement of medical equipment on the basis of the Single Distributor, following the example of the procurement of medicines and medical devices.
Representatives of the Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan noted that the meeting is of great strategic importance for the healthcare system, since the company's activities are currently aimed at changing traditional approaches to the system of procuring medical equipment, which continue to generate many disputes regarding the quality of ongoing procurement procedures, and rational use of budgetary funds.
In turn, the Chairman of the Board of the Single Distributor Ye. Iskaliyev noted that the Single Distributor, together with the Anti-Corruption Agency, has built work in key areas. Considering the increased attention of the public to the issues of drug supply, the Single Distributor, in order to increase the transparency of the company's work, implemented a program to restart the activities of SK-Pharmacy.
In 2020, at the initiative of SK-Pharmacy together with the Anti-Corruption Agency, with the involvement of the public, an external analysis of corruption risks in the activities of the Single Distributor was carried out. As a result of the analysis, an Action Plan was developed with recommendations to eliminate corruption risks, which was fully implemented, a number of proposals were sent to the Ministry of Health for adoption of appropriate changes at the government level.
For a detailed study of issues on the centralization of the medical equipment procurement the initiated measures were discussed by the Single Distributor at the sites of the working group, the public working group, which includes representatives of civil society and the business community, deputies and industry experts. In addition, the discussion was held with the regions, represented by the health departments and medical organizations of the country.
In order to provide high-quality treatment of patients and create favorable conditions for equipping medical institutions with modern diagnostic and treatment-and-prophylactic equipment, problematic issues of medical equipping have been worked out, including equipment planning, the efficiency of using medical equipment, training specialists (medical and technical personnel of healthcare organizations), improving service maintenance and repair.
The world practice of procurement of medical equipment, including centralized ones, was analyzed. Thus, the experience of advanced countries, such as the United States, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Korea, Australia, the countries of the European Union, and Japan, has been studied.
“Also, do not forget that the development of digitalization contributes to the reduction of corruption risks through the introduction of automation procedures for procedures through electronic platforms,” said Ye. Iskaliyev.
Thus, on the basis of SK-Pharmacy LLP, a portal of the of the Unified Pharmaceutical Information System (UPIS/EFIS) was developed, through which applications are submitted from healthcare organizations and regional healthcare departments. Moreover, it should be noted that this portal is synchronized with the procurement web portal of the Center for Electronic Finance JSC (CEF), which ensures the exclusion of paper-based procedures and the so-called “human factor”. Representatives of the Anti-Corruption Service were shown how to submit an application for the medical equipment procurement on the SK-Pharmacy UPIS/EFIS portal.
The issues of localization / contract manufacturing with major global manufacturers are being actively worked out. Companies such as Canon, Philips, General Electric and others expressed interest in localizing production.
One of the requirements for localized industries is the training of technical and medical specialists of medical organizations, the opening or expansion of existing service centers, the formation of warehouses for spare parts and consumables, which will lead to an increase in the efficiency of using procured medical equipment by reducing equipment downtime during repairs, increasing availability medical services to the population.
This project will be implemented using the mechanism of long-term contracts for a certain period, which involve the provision of a guaranteed volume of procurements to localized companies. The development of localization of the production of medical equipment opens up broad prospects for both the healthcare system and business.
All this will ensure transparency in planning the procurement of medical equipment, increase the level of equipment with the necessary medical equipment, and reduce its cost by consolidating the procurement and unifying the terms of reference. The quality of after-sales service and staff training will also improve, and the share of domestic producers in the medical equipment market will increase.
Following the meeting, representatives of the Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan highly appreciated the measures taken to switch to centralized procurement of medical equipment and made some recommendations to minimize corruption risks in the system. The implementation of these measures will be carried out in close cooperation with the Anti-Corruption Service. The Single Distributor, in turn, continues to implement measures to improve the system for procuring medicines and medical equipment, adhering to the openness and transparency principles.
Reference:
Electronic Finance Center JSC introduces IT technologies, transforming business processes and society. Digital transformation of business processes in the field of public finance to ensure transparency and accessibility of public services and effective implementation of the functions of state bodies.
EFIS/UPIS SK-Pharmacy is a system for managing logistics operations and warehouses, which allows online monitoring of the fulfillment of contractual obligations, compliance with proper storage and transportation conditions for medicines, and compliance with the remaining shelf life.
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