All 33 healthcare facilities in Region Two (Pomeroon Supenaam), have a 90 percent availability of medical supplies, attributed to keen monitoring and good leadership.
The region’s facilities are the Suddie hospital, the Charity district hospital, along with the 11 health centers and 20 health posts.
Regional Pharmacist, Sunil Singh said healthcare facilities are regularly monitored to ensure there is an adequate supply of medications available to the patients.
“We have a proper monitoring system whereby we check facilities to see if they’re having adequate drugs at all time, and we not only check the records, we also do medical outreaches,” he said recently.
Singh, who is responsible for the procurement and distribution of drugs across the region, explained that he would speak with patients and find out whether they are receiving medications in the required amount.
“For the last year or so we’re always at a 90 to 95 percent supplies and that has been mainly because we would prepare a list of items that are not in the system and try to get them as soon as possible, in a timely manner and we also try to ensure that the quantity that we’re bringing in the system is adequate and not short supply or excess,” Singh noted.
Regional Health Officer (RHO), Dr. Ranjeev Singh noted that government’s effective procurement system is responsible for a 90 percent availability of medical supplies in the region.
“We’re happy to say that this region is one of the regions that has a 90 percent drug availability. We hope to maintain that, and we hope to make sure that our numbers keep rising and not dropping,” the RHO noted.
Director-General of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Vishwa Mahadeo commended the region’s pharmacist for his good work. He said proper management of supplies is key to adequate drug availability.
“I must say again they have good leadership with their pharmacist in charge. He has been doing a good job. The facilities we have visited, they had no shortages, they had no expired drugs, and that is solely due to the management of the medicine that we are receiving,” Dr. Mahadeo said. He reiterated government’s commitment to ensuring medical supplies are available to every healthcare facility across the country.