Minister of Health Ibrahim Al-Bdoor visited the Procurement and Supply Directorate in Zarqa Governorate on Thursday to inspect work operations within the system for purchasing and supplying pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, as well as to follow up on supply, storage, and distribution mechanisms for hospitals and health centers affiliated with the ministry.
اضافة اعلان
The visit comes ahead of preparing the Ministry of Health’s budget and pharmaceutical procurement tenders for the upcoming year, inline with Prime Minister Jafar Hassan's directives to prioritize drug security and the sustainability of supply chains. It also reflects the government's commitment to enhancing the health sector's readiness, ensuring the continuous supply of medicines and medical consumables to citizens, and raising the efficiency of spending and resource management.
Al-Bdoor emphasized that ensuring the availability of medicines and preventing shortages is a top priority for the ministry. He stressed the necessity of shifting toward a proactive approach in managing supply, where purchasing decisions are based on actual consumption data and anticipated needs rather than responding to shortages after they occur.
He directed that next year’s pharmaceutical tenders include a more precise mechanism for estimating required quantities by reviewing consumption rates for each hospital and health center, setting safe inventory levels, and taking into account the time frame required to complete bidding, awarding, and delivery procedures—thereby ensuring purchasing processes begin before any item reaches critical levels.
Additionally, Al-Bdoor directed the enhancement of coordination and integration between the Procurement and Supply Directorate, warehouses, health directorates, hospitals, and health centers. He called for continuously updating inventory, consumption, and requirements data to allow early intervention to secure items whose stock is approaching minimum levels.
He stressed the importance of redistributing medicines among the ministry’s facilities based on actual need and making optimal use of the strategic drug reserve and regional warehouses, thereby bolstering supply continuity and increasing the ministry's capacity to handle sudden demand surges or supply chain disruptions.
The minister affirmed that the new mechanism aims not only to guarantee drug availability, but also to increase the efficiency of pharmaceutical spending and reduce waste, overstocking, or expiration of items by striking a balance between maintaining adequate inventory to meet patient needs and purchasing quantities that reflect actual facility demands.
He noted that alongside preparing next year's budget, the ministry will conduct a comprehensive review of its pharmaceutical needs, prioritizing essential and vital medications as well as high-consumption items to ensure purchasing allocations are directed toward actual needs.
The visit forms part of the ministry’s ongoing efforts to develop supply chains and pharmaceutical logistics while boosting the efficiency of storage and distribution systems, ensuring that medicines and medical supplies reach all ministry facilities on time and achieving sustainable drug security for citizens.
