scholarly journals Empty stocks and loose paper: Governing access to medicines through informality in Northern India

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 778-795 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marine Al Dahdah ◽  
Aalok Kumar ◽  
Mathieu Quet
Keyword(s):  
Public Procurement ◽  
Access To Medicines ◽  
Public Healthcare ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Northern India ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Informal Providers ◽  
Local Problems ◽  
The Government ◽  
Important Position

Based upon research in the state of Bihar, India, this article argues that informal access to medicines in Northern India is a core element of the government of healthcare. Informal providers such as unlicensed village doctors and unlicensed drug sellers play a major role in access to medicines in Bihar, in the particular context of the dismantling of public procurement services. Building on recent works in the socio-anthropology of pharmaceuticals, the article shows the importance of taking into account the political economy of drugs in India, in order to understand local problems of access more fully. If informal providers occupy such an important position in the government of healthcare in India, this is partly due to the shaping of healthcare as access to drugs on health markets. Elaborating the argument from interviews with health professionals and patients, the article first shows the situation of public healthcare and public procurement in Bihar; then it presents the role of informal medicine providers; lastly, it shows how patients deal with the fact that they live in a ‘pharmaceutical world’ where access to health equates with access to medicines.

How well does Malaysia achieve value for money in public sector purchasing of medicines? Evidence from medicines procurement prices from 2010 to 2014

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurhafiza Md Ham ◽  
Prasadini N Perera ◽  
Ravindra P Rannan-Eliya
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Price Competition ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Weighted Average ◽  
Access To Medicines ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Public Healthcare ◽  
Continuous Increase ◽  
The Public ◽  
Pharmaceutical Procurement

Abstract Background Malaysia’s public healthcare sector provides a greater volume of medicines at lower overall cost, indicating its importance in providing access to medicines for Malaysians. However, the Ministry of Health (MOH), as the main healthcare provider, has concerns about the continuous increase in the public sector medicines budget, and achieving efficiencies in medicines procurement is an important goal. The objectives of this study were to assess the overall trend in public sector pharmaceutical procurement efficiency from 2010 to 2014, and determine if the three different ways in which MOH procures medicines influences efficiency.Methods We matched medicines from the public sector procurement report by medicine formulation to medicines with a Management Sciences for Health (MSH) International Reference Price (IRP) for each year. Price ratios were calculated, and utilizing the information on quantity and expenditure for each product, summary measures of procurement efficiency were reported as quantity- and expenditure-weighted average price ratios (WAPRs) for each year. Utilizing MOH procurement data to obtain information on procurement type, a multiple regression analysis, controlling for a number of factors that can influence prices, assessed whether procured efficiency (relative to IRPs) differed by MOH procurement type.Results Malaysia’s public sector purchased medicines at two to three times the IRP throughout the study period. However, procurement prices were relatively stable in terms of WAPRs each year (2.2 and 3.2 in 2010 to 1.9 and 2.9 in 2014 for quantity and expenditure WAPRs, respectively). Procurement efficiency did not vary between the three different methods of MOH procurement. Procurement efficiency of both imported innovators and imported generics were significantly lower ( P <0.001 and P <0.01) than local generic products, and medicine source and category influenced the procurement efficiency of each MOH procurement mechanism.Conclusion The design of different medicines procurement mechanisms, along with the balance of interests that Malaysia has sought to achieve in its public procurement procedures, have not been able to achieve lower public sector medicines procurement prices (relative to IRP). Introducing pooled procurement options along with continuous monitoring of procurement efficiency and exploring ways to improve price competition among local and foreign suppliers is recommended.

Procurement Process at the Department of Education Philippines, Division of Cagayan de Oro City: Looking beyond the Legal Framework

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annabella L. Ratunil
Keyword(s):  
Survey Design ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Government Procurement ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Procurement Process ◽  
Procurement Reform ◽  
The Government

Public procurement is a core element for the operation government agencies for their purposes (World Trade, 2010). In the Philippines, a Public Procurement Reform Act was enacted to ensure that the following: (a) transparency, (b) competitiveness, (c) streamlined procurement process, and (e) civil monitoring are incorporated in the procurement process. In theory, the Public Procurement Reform Law was in line with international best practices. However, the problem in the implementation caused serious weaknesses in the procurement. Reports revealed that widespread of corruptions still continue to exist. This paper examined the procurement processes of the Division of Cagayan de Oro City, Department of Education, and Region 10 in the implementation of the government procurement reform law. Through descriptive survey design and purposive sampling, the study targeted 34 respondents. The quantitative data collected were analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics using SPSS and presented through percentages and frequencies. The findings revealed that (76%) of the respondents agreed that the procurement reform law was not new them.  However, (58.82%) of the respondents agreed that the procurement reform law caused a delay in the procurement process. All respondents agreed with the recommendation that training on the procurement reform law will solve the problem. Keywords - Public Administration, procurement, implementation, delays, descriptive design, Philippines

scholarly journals Migrants’ and Natives’ Attitudes toward Public Healthcare Provision in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verena Seibel ◽  
Jeanette A J Renema
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Public Healthcare ◽  
Healthcare Provision ◽  
Level Of Satisfaction ◽  
Health Differences ◽  
Socialization Processes ◽  
The Government ◽  
Migrant Groups ◽  
European Welfare States

Abstract Public healthcare is still one of the main pillars of European welfare states, despite the increasing number of migrants, we know little about migrants’ attitudes toward healthcare. We used recent data from the MIFARE survey and compared natives with a variety of nine migrant groups living in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands, focusing on migrants’ preferred level of governmental involvement and their satisfaction with public healthcare. We found that, compared to natives, migrants held the government less responsible for providing healthcare while expressing a higher level of satisfaction. Whereas health differences among migrants and natives did not explain this ethnic gap, we found that these ethnic gaps are moderated by socialization processes and knowledge of healthcare rights.

scholarly journals Perspectives of pharmaceutical stakeholders on determinants of medicines accessibility at the primary care level

2021 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hoda Ibrahim Rizk ◽  
Monira Mahmoud Elkholy ◽  
Abeer Abdou Barakat ◽  
Raghda Mostafa Mostafa Elsayed ◽  
Shaimaa A. M. Abd El Fatah
Keyword(s):  
Health System ◽  
Access To Medicines ◽  
Generic Medicine ◽  
Essential Medicines ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Urban Group ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
External Stakeholders ◽  
Assessment Approach ◽  
The Government

Abstract Background Equitable access to essential medicines of maintained efficacy, safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness must be ensured by a well-functioning health system. This study aims to identify the determinants of patients’ access to medicines at the primary health care (PHC) level from the perspectives of various (internal and external) stakeholders of the pharmaceutical system. Methods The study employed both quantitative and qualitative components. Quantitative component applied a descriptive a cross-sectional design and qualitative component applied an in-depth interview design. It was a health system research conducted at two (PHC) facilities (one urban and the other rural) in Egypt. It inquired upon political, economic, and managerial aspects of the pharmaceutical system utilizing the “Health System Assessment Approach: a How-To Manual” and the “WHO operational package for assessing, monitoring and evaluating country pharmaceutical situations.” Results Analysis of the quantitative data extracted from the cross-sectional component with external stakeholders (patients) revealed that about one-third of patients in both facilities were unable to pay for the medicine. Patients in both settings took less than an hour to reach the PHC facility. The Percent of patients who believe that the private pharmacies’ medicine is better than the PHC one was significantly higher in rural than urban group (24% and 10% respectively) and the percent of medicines dispensed was 50% and 66.7% in rural and urban groups respectively. Analysis of the qualitative data extracted from in-depth interviews with internal stakeholders (key informants from regulatory agencies, pharmaceutical industry, academia, pharmacists, and physicians) were summarized utilizing Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Challenges (SWOC) analysis approach. Various viewpoints toward the determinants of patients’ access to medicines were disclosed. Conclusions The Percent of medicines dispensed was insufficient in both rural and urban facilities. There is a need to invest in building trust in generic medicine quality in the government health facilities focusing on improving medicine availability and ensuring enough amounts of high-quality drugs. Although there are drug committees in the two studied PHC facilities for demonstrating the prescribing and dispensing policies, yet the system required to enforce these policies is still deficient.

scholarly journals Non-Price Criteria for the Evaluation of the Tender Offers in Public Procurement of Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Alexander Baranovsky ◽  
Nataliia Tkachenko ◽  
Vladimer Glonti ◽  
Valentyna Levchenko ◽  
Kateryna Bogatyrova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Procurement ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Gdp Per Capita ◽  
Tender Offers ◽  
Product Categories ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Eu

Traditionally, public procurement has been associated with the measurement of achieving savings. However, recent research shows that the economic impact of public procurement is not limited only to savings, but by measuring the impact of four capitals—natural, human, social, and economic—on sustainable well-being over time. Ukraine is a country with a very low gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, which exacerbates the problem of the impact of public procurement results on the population’s welfare. Ukrainian public procurement legislation allows customers to apply non-price criteria (the share of non-price criteria cannot be more than 70%), which, together, are taken into account in the formula of the quoted price. The studies show that the effect of the use of non-price criteria depends on the relevance of the method of the evaluation of non-price criteria. The most important non-price criteria for Ukrainian customers by product categories and the methods of their evaluation are analyzed according to the Bi.prozorro.org analytics module. Therefore, it is concluded that the quoted price method, which is used in Ukrainian practice, is not relevant in comparison with the method used in the EU. A survey of the government buyers on the practice of applying non-price criteria was conducted, and the areas of their use were identified.

The framework of data-driven and multi-criteria decision-making for detecting unbalanced bidding

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Huimin Li ◽  
Limin Su ◽  
Jian Zuo ◽  
Xiaowei An ◽  
Guanghua Dong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Distance Measure ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Unit Price ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Relative Distance ◽  
Multi Criteria Decision Making ◽  
Ideal Solution ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Government

PurposeUnbalanced bidding can seriously imposed the government from obtaining the best value for the taxpayers' money in public procurement since it increases the owner's cost and decreases the fairness of the competitive bidding process. How to detect an unbalanced bid is a challenging task faced by theoretical researchers and practical actors. This study aims to develop an identification method of unbalanced bidding in the construction industry.Design/methodology/approachThe identification of unbalanced bidding is considered as a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. A data-driven unit price database from the historical bidding document is built to present the reference unit prices as benchmarks. According to the proposed extended TOPSIS method, the data-driven unit price is chosen as the positive ideal solution, and the unit price that has the furthest absolute distance measure as the negative ideal solution. The concept of relative distance is introduced to measure the distances between positive and negative ideal solutions and each bidding unit price. The unbalanced bidding degree is ranked by means of relative distance.FindingsThe proposed model can be used for the quantitative evaluation of unbalanced bidding from a decision-making perspective. The identification process is developed according to the decision-making process. The finding shows that the model will support owners to efficiently and effectively identify unbalanced bidding in the bid evaluation stage.Originality/valueThe data-driven reference unit prices improve the accuracy of the benchmark to evaluate the unbalanced bidding. The extended TOPSIS model is applied to identify unbalanced bidding; the owners can undertake objective decision-making to identify and prevent unbalanced bidding at the stage of procurement.

Ökologische Aspekte im öffentlich-rechtlichen Beschaffungswesen

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Steengrafe
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
German Law ◽  
Government Procurement ◽  
Environmental Concerns ◽  
European Law ◽  
Environmental Criteria ◽  
The Government ◽  
Model Law ◽  
The Government Procurement

The awarding of public contracts is of considerable economic importance and for this reason can be used to promote environmental concerns. The present work examines whether environmental criteria may be taken into account in the context of public procurement. To answer this question, the Government Procurement Agreement and the UNICTRAL Model Law on Public Procurement are considered at the level of international law. In European law, the primary as well as the relevant secondary law requirements and, in German law, the Cartel and Budget Procurement Law are assessed. This analysis also includes the interactions between the three levels.

scholarly journals FOREIGN EXPERIENCE IN REGULATING THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT SYSTEM

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yernur Mukhtar ◽  
Yuri Toluev
Keyword(s):  
System Analysis ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Economic Assessment ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Scientific Article ◽  
Regional Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Foreign Experience ◽  
The Government ◽  
Procurement System

The relevance of this research topic lies in the fact that public procurement requires in-depth consideration and comprehensive analysis, including the scientific and methodological level of analysis. The use of special legal documents in public procurement and the specific procedure for the execution of these documents is not a factor in the full understanding of this direction, including the economic assessment of the entire process. An economic and statistical approach using system analysis is required, which was used by the authors of the scientific article as the proposed research methodology. One of the main parts of the progressive process of commodity exchange in the economies of the analyzed countries is the mechanism for building public procurement. Currently, the problem of material and technical support of public needs in developed countries is solved as a result of logistics processes in the system of public procurement through the acquisition and supply of goods, works, and services, tangible and intangible resources. The article submits a review of foreign experience in building a public procurement system with special features characteristic of this region of the world, presented as an object of research. Country aspects in the object under study and allowed the authors to formulate the relevant main results and conclusions concerning various parties in the public procurement system, which determined the further strategy to improve the procurement system of the government and international integration union. Key words: public procurement (PP), regulation of the public procurement system, government orders, entrepreneurship, international regional institutions, regulation of the public procurement system, procurement, USA, European Union (EU), Poland, Germany, World Bank.

scholarly journals Over-the-Counter Sale of Antibiotics in India: A Qualitative Study of Providers’ Perspectives across Two States

Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1123
Author(s):  
Anita Kotwani ◽  
Jyoti Joshi ◽  
Anjana Sankhil Lamkang
Keyword(s):  
Prescription Drugs ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Public Healthcare ◽  
Indian States ◽  
Over The Counter ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Inappropriate Use ◽  
Awareness Campaigns ◽  
Poor Access ◽  
The Government

India has one of the highest rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) worldwide. Despite being prescription drugs, antibiotics are commonly available over-the-counter (OTC) at retail pharmacies. We aimed to gain insight into the OTC sale of antibiotics at retail pharmacies and to elucidate its underlying drivers. We conducted face-to-face, in-depth interviews using convenience sampling with 22 pharmacists and 14 informal dispensers from 36 retail pharmacies across two Indian states (Haryana and Telangana). Thematic analysis revealed that antibiotics were often dispensed OTC for conditions e.g., fever, cough and cold, and acute diarrhea, which are typically viral and self-limiting. Both Access and Watch groups of antibiotics were dispensed for 1–2 days. Respondents had poor knowledge regarding AMR and shifted the blame for OTC practices for antibiotics onto the government, prescribers, informal providers, cross practice by alternative medicine practitioners, and consumer demand. Pharmacists suggested the main drivers for underlying OTC dispensing were commercial interests, poor access to public healthcare, economic and time constraints among consumers, lack of stringent regulations, and scanty inspections. Therefore, a comprehensive strategy which is well aligned with activities under the National Action Plan-AMR, including stewardship efforts targeting pharmacists and evidence-based targeted awareness campaigns for all stakeholders, is required to curb the inappropriate use of antibiotics.

scholarly journals Return of Corruption Assets toward Criminal Actions of Office Abuse

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 2114-2120
Author(s):  
Rahmayanti Rahmayanti
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Public Official ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Data Source ◽  
The Government ◽  
Important Position ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Right

Corruption is a serious problem because it can endanger the stability and security of society, destroy democratic values and morality, and endanger economic, socio-political development, and create massive poverty so that it needs attention from the government and society and social institutions. The purpose of this study is to determine and analyze the sanctions arrangements for corruption in the abuse of office and the return of assets resulting from corruption against criminal acts of abuse of office based on Law Number 31 of 1999 in conjunction with Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning Corruption Eradication. The research that was conducted was juridical normative, the data source used to support this research was secondary data sources. The return of assets from corruption has occupied an important position in eradicating corruption. a criminal act of corruption is an act directly related to the authority (bevoegheid), the right to rule or act as the power of a public official to comply with the rule of law in the scope of carrying out public obligations. The return of assets is based on the principles of social justice which gives the ability, duty and responsibility to state institutions and legal institutions to provide protection and opportunities for individuals in society to achieve prosperity, so that this is in line with the objectives of the State as specified in UUD 1945. 

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