KUALA LUMPUR – The government has in recent years saved RM179 million on dozens of essential medicines through strategic volume-based procurement, said former Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said this showed the importance of integrating medicine procurement as a strategy that could be applied both locally and regionally in order to optimise resources and enhance cost-effectiveness.
“By leveraging our collective volume, we are able to negotiate better prices and faster delivery times,” he said during his speech at the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia Conference and Exhibition at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, here this afternoon.
The healthcare exhibition saw the participation of at least 126 exhibitors and featured the latest solutions and products for global healthcare.
“(Due to this) the Health Ministry, in collaboration with the Higher Education Ministry and the Defence Ministry, managed to save RM179 million on 82 medicines.”
Noor Hisham did not elaborate on the duration of the strategic procurement initiative.
Regardless, he highlighted an example of the strategy’s effectiveness during the Covid-19 pandemic and also pointed out the success of reducing the cost of dengue diagnostic tests.
He noted that the cost of a dengue diagnostic test was once RM90, which, combined with consultation fees, would cost the patient around RM150-200.
“By negotiating on behalf of both the general practitioner and Health Ministry, we managed to reduce the cost of the test to RM15.
“This demonstrates that with the help of the public and private sectors, we can collaborate to achieve significant cost reductions,” he said. – June 4, 2024