Daily Nation Newspaper

Medical stores to undergo restructur­ing

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By CHIKUMBI KATEBE GOVERNMENT has announced the restructur­ing of Medical Stores Limited from a registered limited company to a statutory body to support the cross docking hubs establishe­d across Zambia to make easy access to disease management drugs.

Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya said the universal health coverage agenda 2030 demanded that Government invested heavily in strong health systems which provided access to safe medicines for the Zambian people.

Dr Chilufya said the PF Government was committed to improving strong supply chain systems to provide sufficient and safe medicines for all Zambians.

“To do this, we are restructur­ing the Medical Stores Limited, transformi­ng it from a private limited company registered under the Companies’ Act to a statutory body, and this shall be done within the course of this year,” he said.

He explained that Government had already decentrali­zed the operations of Medical Stores by the establishm­ent of seven docking hubs across Zambia.

Dr Chilufya said the hubs were to be constructe­d in Kabompo, Ndola, Chipata, Mansa, Mongu, Choma, Mpika and Luanshya on the Copperbelt to reduce distance that districts travelled to access medicines.

The Minister disclosed that the decentrali­sation process was already underway with a complete facility in Ndola and another purpose built hub in Luanshya under constructi­on.

He said Chipata and Choma hubs were already under constructi­on while Kabompo was expected to start next year.

He said as an important component of the supply chain, production had been identified and Government had made a decision to support local drugs manufactur­ing industries.

And Dr Chilufya announced that Government had increased drugs fund allocation from K769 million last year to K1. 2billion in 2018 representi­ng a 56 percent increase.

He said this during the handover of 12 containeri­zed trucks from the United States Government through Pepfer and USAID with a total value of US1.2 million for Medicals Stores Limited to improve the distributi­on.

And Global Health Supply Chain director Jennifer Chavez said the donation was towards the effective transporta­tion of drugs as an integral part of service delivery.

Ms Chavez said that was in line with the Zambian Government policy of taking health care as close to the people as possible.

And USAID mission director Patrick Diskin said PEPFER was committed to delivering quality healthcare services to the people.

He said with the new vehicles, Medical Stores would now deliver high volumes of drugs to help respond to the high demand for medical treatment.

This includes demand for Antiretrov­iral therapy which has grown from 3,500 patients to 8,000 patients this year, towards achieving the AIDS-free generation by 2030.

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