TRANSPARENCY International Zambia says lack of proper scrutiny in the procurement of health related products is propelling corruption and leading to poor health care delivery.
Speaking during a breakfast meeting on the Electronic Procurement System (EGP) in Lusaka yesterday, TIZ board member Adam Daka who read a speech on behalf of the chapter president Rueben Lifuka, said there was need to increase transparency in the sector.
“A key reason why public contracting is vulnerable to corruption and mismanagement is that it is often hidden from regular scrutiny. This is the reason why we are proposing as a movement through Transparency International Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Programme that there be the implementation of Open Contracting in the health sector as a way to curb corruption and ensure better use of scarce public funds for health,” he said. “The Open Contracting for Health Sector (OC4H) Initiative together with the Open Contracting Partnership and the World Health Organisation (WHO) is interested to support initiatives towards embracing open contracting.”
Lifuka said health services were easily affected by faulty procurement.
“When procurement goes wrong, the quality of health services decreases and in many countries citizens end up paying for their healthcare services out-of-pocket,” he said. “Corruption in healthcare procurement can result in medicines shortages, inflated drug prices and the infiltration of falsified and substandard medicines into the health system.”
He called on the relevant officials to expedite the paperwork on legislation for open contracting.
“As the project goes towards its end in 2021, together with CSOs we are developing a CSO Procurement Monitoring Framework which will enable the communities and users of health services to monitor procurements and service delivery at local level,” Lifuka said. “We call upon the responsible authorities and law makers to ensure the legislation that supports all key stakeholders and together we will see improved transparency, value for money, efficiency and other attributes of Open Contracting which will translate into improved service delivery.”
Officials from the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) were also present at the meeting.
