Rwanda Medical Supply Ltd (RMS) has secured a contract with USAID for $75 million to increase the efficiency of Rwanda’s health product supply chain.
The agreement was inked on September 3 and is scheduled to last for five years.
The “Transforming Rwanda Medical Supply Chain (TRMS)” initiative will act as the principal vehicle for procuring and delivering health commodities to end users.
The first phase will focus on providing HIV/AIDS goods, followed by Malaria, Family Planning, Maternal and Child Health items, and other health commodities.
RMS is scheduled to acquire over 350,000 multi-month supply bottles of the very effective HIV treatment medication as one of the first operations financed under this contract.
Dr. Daniel Ngamije, Minister of Health, stated that the initiative seeks to enhance RMS’s planning and management skills.
“It would boost operational efficiency, capacity to use data in decision making, and guarantee proper and timely purchase and distribution of health commodities to last mile service delivery points,” he added.
He went on to say that the first few years will be devoted to delivering HIV/AIDS goods under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
The effectiveness of the country’s pharmaceutical supply chain, despite the fact that it is a complicated industry, impressed the USAID Rwanda Mission Director, Jonathan Kamin.
“This is noteworthy for Rwanda, a supply chain performance leader on the continent, because it is now the beneficiary of one of the largest direct commodity procurement contracts with a local supply chain organization from USAID.”
“Direct collaboration with capable local organizations is critical to USAID’s objective of strengthening local self-sufficiency.” Kamin made a comment.
According to Pie Harerimana, CEO of RMS, this fund would address the issue of capacity building by allocating funds to teach staff to operate properly.
He went on to say that the initiatives are intended to address operational inefficiencies, long procurement procedures, inventory management gaps, and inadequate order fulfilment rates, among other things.
The formation of RMS Ltd was a government of Rwanda initiative aimed at strengthening the pharmaceutical supply chain system with the ultimate goal of ensuring the availability of quality medications in health facilities for the people.