Med4all delivers a first shipment of medicines to the E.P. Church Clinic, Dzemeni
Med4all has completed a first, milestone delivery of medicines procured through the digitally supported supply chain system.
- Jan 16, 2020
The shipment was supplied by Ernest Chemist, a Ghanaian medicine manufacturing company. It arrived on December 18, 2019, at the E.P. Church Clinic in the Volta Region of Ghana. After meeting all requirements and navigating the platform’s procurement process, the medicines were delivered to the clinic six days after the facility placed an order on the platform.
Med4all is a joint initiative by the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) and PharmAccess, and aims to make quality medicines accessible to everyone in Ghana. The platform addresses affordability and availability constraints and the problem of fake and substandard medicines in Ghana. These problems are caused by the combination of a fragmented, poorly regulated market with insufficient quality control measures, inefficient procurement and inventory management as well as the low liquidity of healthcare facilities.
According to the clinic’s administrator, Emmanuel Agbadzida, the process of buying drugs through the system was simple for them. “It is much easier…compared to…moving to town to get the drugs yourself. Once you apply on time, the drugs are going to come on time.”
The clinic’s physician assistant, Larry Elorm, agrees and adds that they are happy and proud to have received the first shipment – a milestone delivery for the Med4all project. “We have been waiting anxiously for the thing (the project) to kickstart.”
Currently, Med4all is being piloted at 30 CHAG providers across Ghana. The pilot will run for six months and incrementally cover all 330 CHAG providers with the potential of including private and public providers.