The purchase of free medicines for 2019 started in Kazakhstan. Acting Chairman of the Board of LLP "SC-Pharmacy" Berik Sharip told in an interview to PrimeMinister.kz about the work being done in this direction, when will the deliveries begin and what volume is prepared.

Limited Liability Partnership “SK-Pharmacy” is a single distributor for procurement and provision of medicines for the population within the framework of guaranteed volume of free medical care by consolidating government purchases. Since 2011 SK-Pharmacy has also been the organizer of the procurement of medical equipment purchased from the republican budget.

— When will the deliveries begin? How does the drug delivery process start?

— After the enforcement of the order of the Minister of Healthcare to approve the list of medicines and medical equipment for 2019, the work on collecting applications from medical organizations started. To date, this work is complete, August 28 we announced a tender for the purchase of medicines for the next year. Tender procedures take about two months, so we expect that the drugs will be delivered to our warehouses before the end of this year. Their shipment to medical organizations will begin in January 2019. The list of drugs purchased in the framework of guaranteed medical service, this year includes 1,124 positions. Of these, more than 550 items are used to treat patients who are on dispensary records for 45 diseases.

— Will there be a shortage of drugs, as it was last year?

— Due to the need to amend the regulatory acts and because of the introduction of the compulsory health insurance system, a number of documents regulating medicinal supply issues were approved too late, consequently, the procurement procedures also started too late. In addition, centralization of outpatient drug provision was carried out in 2018. These factors led to interruptions in the provision of medical care in early 2018. Now all the shortcomings of the past are taken into account, and in order to avoid a deficit in preparations at the beginning of the year, as happened this year, a single distributor has already begun purchasing procedures. Taking into account actual delivery of drugs to Kazakhstan, customs clearance and certification, the purchased medicines will be delivered to the warehouses of a single distributor already in December, and from the beginning of January we will begin their shipment to the medical organizations.

— What work is carried out to support domestic producers?

— Thanks to domestic production support mechanisms, in procurement procedures through a single distribution system, it is the pharmaceutical industry that has become one of the most rapidly developing in Kazakhstan. A guaranteed long-term sales market creates a favorable investment environment, thanks to which the country managed to attract major international investments. Such large international companies as Polpharma, Abdi Ibrahim, Pharmstandard, Nobel entered our pharmaceutical industry with their investments, technologies and developments. This became possible thanks to the mechanism of concluding long-term supply contracts with domestic producers, guaranteeing a 10-year market for their products. The prerequisite for concluding such an agreement is the construction of a new one or the modernization of existing production in accordance with the standards of good GMP practice.

To date, 50 long-term contracts have been concluded with 30 domestic commodity producers for the supply of 1,612 medicines (1,050 medicines and 562 medicinal products). In 2018 domestic producers purchased 464 items (196 medicines and 268 medicinal products) for 50 billion tenge. In 2019, it is planned to purchase 510 medicines produced in Kazakhstan, including 227 medicines and 283 medical products. It should be noted that the volume of products purchased from domestic producers is growing every year. Now, along with the purchase for 2019, a tender for the conclusion of long-term contracts for 3,239 items has been announced. The deadline for submitting bids is 10 p.m. October 22, 2018.

— As for the current year, is the planned dispatch of medicines to medical organizations completed? What amount of drugs is shipped at the moment?

— To date, out-patient medicines worth 66.5 billion tenge were delivered to medical organizations of the country free of charge, and to hospitals — for 55 billion tenge. For today, there are no interruptions in the scheduled shipment, now the medical organization received 100% of planned shipment of medicines. Moreover, we have already started shipping medicines in the framework of the additional need for outpatient medicines, which we purchased for the savings of 23 billion tenge after the purchase in 2018.

— What work is being done to digitize the drug supply?

— Within the framework of digitalization of health care, the Single Distributor together with the Republican Center for Electronic Health is working on the integration of the Information System for Drug Supply and the Unified Pharmaceutical Information System of the Single Distributor. The disparity of the systems hindered the statistical calculation and made the work more complicated. Integration of the systems allows us to see the presence of drug residues in the medical organizations, the average monthly consumption of medications. It is planned that from next year will be launched information and analysis system of the Single Distributor, which, among other things, will help provide data for planning / forecasting of the medical supply. This will make it possible to implement the mechanism of personalized planning of medical supplies and will provide polyclinics, pharmacists with a software tool for managing medicines.

For the convenience of patients, a single electronic reference book for the availability of free medicines in polyclinics is being developed. Until the end of the year, it is planned to complete the development, commissioning is planned for early 2019. The directory will allow patients to see in the online mode all the data on medicines: on what medicines the medical organization has placed the application, when and to what extent the medicines have been dispensed, their availability at the current moment, and also the terms of the following drug supplies.

As part of digitalization, we completely abandon the paperwork. Now the project on electronic interaction between a single distributor and medical organizations has been piloted in four regions — in Karaganda, Pavlodar, North-Kazakhstan regions and Astana. The transition to electronic communication throughout the country is planned to be completed before the end of the year.

— Earlier you talked about the transition to a personalized account of all patients when planning the need. What is it for and what problems will it solve?

— Currently, the Ministry of Healthcare is working to digitize the register of dispensary patients, as well as to digitize all treatment protocols for each of the diseases provided under the guaranteed medical service. As part of the digitalization of health care, it is planned to integrate drug supply systems and this register. Based on the appointment of the attending physician, we will be able to see the prescribed drugs and their number, as well as predict the need for preparations for each such patient.

— This year for the first time the purchase of medicines and medical products is carried out in electronic format. What is the advantage of electronic procurement?

— The introduction of electronic procurement in the field of drug provision is an important project implemented in the framework of digitalization of health care. Electronic format of procurement will allow to remove administrative barriers, ensure transparency and objectivity of procurement procedures, which will help the industry to strengthen the confidence of Kazakhstani people. Work on paper carriers is completely excluded. With the electronic format of purchases, direct interaction between the workers of a single distributor and potential suppliers is completely excluded, which reduces the corruption-related nature of the procurement, and every action by both potential suppliers and members of the tender commission leaves an electronic trail in the system.

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