OECS Secretariat, Castries, Saint. Lucia April 15th, 2009:  OECS Member Countries are moving closer towards reducing government expenditure for the treatment of persons on dialysis. 

For the first time, a meeting on advancing this process will take place on Friday April 17th 2009 in Saint Lucia involving nephrologists or doctors caring for patients on dialysis. 

The nephrologists as well as Managers of Central Medical Stores of all nine OECS Member States will meet in Castries for a morning session hosted by the OECS Secretariat’s Pharmaceutical Procurement Service. (OECS PPS) 

Head of the OECS PPS Francis Burnett says the inaugural conference of specialists in clinical care for persons on dialysis, is designed to advance plans towards the pooled purchasing of dialysis products region- wide. He also says it is a timely opportunity to help address constraints associated with the current international economic climate: “The ultimate objective is to agree to a time table to actually start the procurement of dialysis products. We have spoken about it for the last two years. We need to “operationalise” this procurement. We have calculated that if we obtain a 20% reduction on the unit cost of those products it will result in substantial cost savings for Member Countries in the region, of approximately three hundred thousand EC dollars. To add to that, bearing in mind the international economic recession, we need to enhance the efficiency of our health sector resources.” 

The meeting on advancing the process towards the bulk purchasing of dialysis products is to be followed by a second milestone achievement which will further benefit persons receiving health care in the OECS. 

This event, scheduled for Friday afternoon also in Saint Lucia, will be a supplementary tender of products added to the number of items being procured under the OECS PPS bulk purchasing arrangement. Burnet says additional drugs to reduce cholesterol and medicines for hypertension are among the new medications: “These are products that were added last year and rather than wait for the procurement cycle to be completed and start the process a year later, we have immediately conducted a supplementary tender for thirty-one high use items that have been added to the PPS formulary.” 

During the Friday afternoon meeting, procurement officers will adjudicate contracts for 31 additional items which will bring the OECS PPS bulk purchasing portfolio to seven hundred products. 

Burnett says OECS citizens will have the benefit of an expanded market basket of medical products from 2009 to 2010 and added that for the first time the OECS regional procurement of medical products has reached 16 million EC dollars