Medicine consignment system for hospitals OK'd

ILOILO CITY, Philippines – The Iloilo Provincial Board recently approved a resolution implementing the medicine consignment system for district hospitals in the province to ensure availability of medicines in all pharmacies of these hospitals.Provincial Ordinance No. 2012-095, sponsored by PB Member Macario Napulan, covers the Iloilo Provincial Hospital and 11 district hospitals in Iloilo.

Under the ordinance, goods or items (drugs, medicines, supplies, laboratory equipment, reagents and other items) that the supplier delivers would go through the consignment system, said Napulan, health and sanitation committee chairman.

The Hospital Consignment Board will conduct the accreditation of suppliers, manufacturers and dealers of the items to be consigned. Those who were previously accredited by the Provincial Hospital Consignment Management Board, and presently participating in the procurement process, will also be considered for accreditation by the HCB.

Consigned items will be based on the submitted list of items from the therapeutic committees and other service areas (laboratory, radiology, laundry and admin) and from concerned offices and divisions of health maintenance organizations (HMOs).

The prices of the consigned items should not be higher than the last recorded procurement price of the same item for a maximum period of six months, or the reference price should make use of the prevailing price of the Western Visayas Medical Center and/or the canvass price made by the Technical Support Service Division of the Consignment Management Board within the same period.

In cases of consignments for PhilHealth beneficiaries, the selling price of the items should not be higher than the prevailing price of the same items in local private pharmacies and outlets.

Income generated sales of the consigned items should be used for the payment of dispenses or utilized consigned items after the appropriate inventory is conducted. In addition, revenue generated from the program should be deposited directly to the hospital general fund.

For quality assurance, the consignments items may be subjected to random sampling, inspection and testing by the consignee and other appropriate support agencies.

The consignment system is a method of assuring the availability of stocks wherein the consignor entrusts its goods to the provincial and district hospitals pharmacy or other participating division and offices of the consignees for sale.

The consignor shall be paid only for the actual quantity consumed using the money generated from the sale of the consigned goods within the agreed period of time. - THE FREEMAN