Health Ministry Looking to Source Cheaper Drugs

The Ministry of Health is looking to source cheaper drugs and will report to Cabinet soon on where these drugs are available.
“We are looking to buy drugs significantly cheaper than we are buying it now,” said portfolio Minister, Hon. Rudyard Spencer. He informed that he was examining a report of “big drug companies abroad and they will give us credit.”
Mr. Spencer, who was speaking to staff of the Mandeville Regional Hospital in Manchester on Thursday (October 29), said that by the end of the year, he should be able to present to Cabinet, the Ministry of Health’s findings. He noted that drugs that are normally in short supply should also be available.
“This year is not passing without my being able to present to the Cabinet of Jamaica, a thing where we revolutionise the purchase of drugs, where we can get drugs that you ask for,” he pledged.
He informed that the Ministry would only be making available, free of cost, those drugs that are stipulated under the abolition of user fees policy and are on the Vital, Essential and Necessary (VEN) list.