Procurement
We acquire our supplies from approximately 80 qualified medical and pharmaceutical companies located in 20 countries. In addition, we actively utilise the Government of Jamaica’s electronic public procurement system, which facilitates the full life cycle of tendering processes, to source items locally and from around the world. Occasionally, we also utilise the resources of international public-health agency Pan American Health Organization in sourcing critical, rare and hard-to-obtain drugs.
The NHF continues to identify and implement strategies to mitigate any supply-and-demand issues arising, which may from time to time include supplier delays, the discontinuation of products, and global product shortages. We have widened our supplier base through the sharing of awards for pharmaceutical items thereby minimizing interruptions to the supply of vital drugs to the public sector.