FG Moves to Improve Procurement Practices in Health Sector

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

 The federal government yesterday commenced measures to ensure efficiency and reliability of health supplies procurement across Nigeria.
It said that it is committed to enhancing health procurement systems as part of strategies to improve healthcare service delivery in the country.
Speaking at the one-day technical workshop jointly organised by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Health Procurement Africa – CIPS , UK in Abuja, the Director General of BPP, Mamman Ahmadu said the government was pushing for a pooled unified procurement initiative which will play pivotal role in strengthening the country’s healthcare system.

Addressing participants at the workshop, Ahmadu said that a unified effort was needed to ensure .the success of the pooled procurement systems.
He said that BPP had in recent times implemented several strategic initiatives to bolster national procurement systems.
“These initiatives are designed to address existing challenges and create more robust, efficient and transparent procurement process,” he said.
Among the strategies being implemented under the initiative, include; setting up of e-procurement platforms, strengthening of regulatory oversight, capacity building and professional development.

Other strategies are to enhance stakeholder engagement and management as well as commitment to sustainable practices.
In his remarks, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Prof Muhammad Pate said  that one of the cardinal points of the initiatives when it comes to availability and affordability of health products, especially for the vulnerable is group procurement.

” That is why as an organisation we felt that we need to key into the agenda of the government. You don’t just wake up and start carrying out procurement. In fact beyond this workshop, what we do is to let procurement professionals to understand a couple of things that they need to do to help them,” he said.