OECS Member States Working Together to Save $5 million in annual pharmaceutical procurement
OECS Media Release: 4th Council of OECS Health Ministers meeting convened in Martinique
Friday, November 10, 2017 βΒ The OECS Commission is working to continue to drive down the costΒ of medicines via the OECSΒ Pharmaceutical Service which in 2016/17 purchased approximately $25 million worth of medical products, which resulted in aggregate cost-savings of $5 million for OECS Member States.
OECS Director General Dr. Didacus Jules at the formal openingΒ said the Caribbean had changed dramatically postΒ Hurricane Maria and there were naturalΒ opportunities to collaborate to deliver better health outcomes across the OECS.
"We are meeting here in Martinique at this critical time and Martinique has deliberately been chosen for this meeting because your health system is the most sophisticated in the OECS and there are many lessons to be learned from your best practices....aΒ lesson of Irma and Maria is that alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.Β
"Our geographic proximity is both a common vulnerability but it also enables us to respond with neighborly urgency" said Dr. Jules.
Key agenda items being discussedΒ include:
- OECS Member States and International Health Regulations
- Evaluation of OECS Member States Response to Non-Chronic Communicable Diseases (NCDs)
- Health Human Resource Sharing in the Eastern Caribbean
- Regional Health Information Strategy
- Health Services Cooperation in Martinique
Ministers and technical personnel discussedΒ the annual Work Program of the OECS/Pharmaceutical Procurement Service andΒ will also explore expanding the OECS/PPSΒ product portfolio to include the pooled procurement of Laboratory supplies, particularly viral load reagents for monitoring People Living with HIV/AIDS.
The meeting also tabled the OECS/PPS Annual Report which confirmsΒ that the availability of medicines in OECS Member States isΒ satisfactory and citizens haveΒ reliable access to essential medicines to sustain their health care.
The OECS commitment to solidarity in health will be formalized at the conclusion of the gathering with the Fort de France Declaration on Health.
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