The Ministry of Health has reviewed and is now implementing a process around the Free Medicine Program after analysing the execution of the program and the anomalies and recommendations highlighted in the Auditor General’s Report for the 2018 financial year.
Acting Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says the trial is now underway.
The 2018 Auditor General’s Report had recommended that the Ministry consider creating a policy or guide which will require the pharmacies to update the Ministry at regular intervals on the stock level of free medicine stock available at their pharmacy and stock which needs to be replenished; ensure that funds allocated for free medicine expenditure are utilised for its intended purpose; ensure that an agreement is signed between the Ministry and the private pharmacies engaged in the free medicine scheme; and carry out stocktake of medicines held by private pharmacies at the end of the financial year and disclose in the Notes to the financial statements the monetary value of closing stock of medicines held by private pharmacies.
The Free Medicine Program aims to provide quality healthcare with easy access to price-controlled medicines, including for non-communicable diseases, free of charge to all Fijians who earn less than $20,000 a year.
The Ministry was allocated a budget of $10 million for the Free Medicine Program for the financial year ended 31st July 2018. A total of $9.414 million was recorded as actual expenditure for the program at year-end.
The 2018 audit report noted the anomalies in the program which included no requirement for pharmacies to submit reports to the Ministry at regular intervals on the stock of medicines dispensed and the balance at the end of that period. The report says the Ministry is unable to determine how much stock is available at each pharmacy at any point in time.
It was also highlighted that the Ministry of Health procured medicines valued at $97,368 and posted to Free Medicine Program expenditure allocation. However, these medicines were not included in the free medicine program list.
It further said that the Ministry does not have an agreement with the private pharmacies who were engaged in the free medicine scheme.
The Auditor General says in the absence of a reporting procedure from the pharmacies on the balance of medicines held, timely replenishment of medicine may not be done by the Ministry. As a result, the general public will not have access to free medicine when the pharmacy runs out of medicine.
It says that the purchase of non-approved medicine under the free medicine program means funds were not utilised for the intended purpose and could have led to shortage of funds for purchasing the medicine that are part of the free medicine list.
The 2018 Auditor General’s Report says in the absence of the agreement, the interest of the Ministry is not protected and the Ministry may not be able to hold private pharmacies accountable for not meeting deliverables of the free medicine scheme or stock of medicines provided.
The Health Ministry is now piloting a project with Island Pharmacy that will allow retail pharmacies to dispense their own stock of price control medicines that are part of the Free Medicine Program list.
Health Minister Doctor Ifereimi Waqainabete has also confirmed that this will be the approved generic stock.
He says the Free Medicine Program complements the pharmaceutical services currently delivered from government health facilities.
Doctor Waqainabete says the current framework underlines that the Fiji Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Services are to procure and deliver the approved medications to retail pharmacies.
He says once received, pharmacies are to dispense those medicines to eligible patients and keep manual records of these released goods.
Doctor Waqainabete says at the beginning of this year, they have reviewed that because it is now going on to 5 years.
He says it was reviewed to look to suit the current situation from the impact of COVID-19 through the global supply chain of pharmaceutical services.
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