National Medical Stores (NMS) has exhibited its latest technology which allows public health facilities to place their orders for medicines electronically and have them delivered in time and right quantities.
The new e-services procedure NMS+ has replaced the paper-based requisition forms, which were slow, tedious and time-consuming and leading to the delayed supply of medicines in health facilities.
Officials now say NMS+ will improve accountability in practices of procurement, storage and distribution of medicines and medical supplies in Uganda.
NMS, which is taking part in the e-government exhibition in Gulu, says NMS+ system has seen hospitals begin ordering essential medicines and medical supplies directly from NMS through an online portal accessible at the health facilities.
“The online portal contains the procurement plans for medicines and health supplies of health facilities, delivery schedules and utilisation reports,” said NMS ICT head, Mr Steven Kisuze.
The health facilities using the NMS+ digital platform include National Referral Hospitals, National Institutes, General hospitals, Regional Referral Hospitals and Health Centre IVs.
NMS said they have engaged partners to provide data transmission services to health facilities which are not connected to the internet to be able to send their orders to NMS.
“The automation of procurement, storage and delivery of medical supplies is a great performance indicator of the government’s ability to maintain a healthy and productive population that contributes to socio-economic growth and national development,” said Kisuze.
“NMS+ represents a new way of doing business through the automation of most of the business processes.”
Previously, health facilities would manually write to NMS headquarters providing details of the required medicines which was subject to human error.
However, the adoption of modern technology has helped NMS improve its estimation of current and future needs as a basis for procurement planning and budgeting processes.
“Health facilities are able to confirm receipt of items delivered against their orders, clearly indicating what was received versus what was ordered. As a result, NMS is better placed to manage backorder updates to the health facilities,” said Kisuze.
He also spoke about the client self-service portal (CSSP) which enables health facilities to view their procurement plans and budget utilisation in real time.
“With CSSP, health facilities are now able to quickly create orders, review and submit to NMS with limited human error,” said Kisuze.
Public health officials say the CSSP functionality enables them to receive notifications on reminders for orders due in cycle, the order statuses and are able to confirm receipt of items delivered against their orders.
President Museveni is presiding over today’s e-government exhibition and grand commissioning of the Regional Communication Infrastructure Program (RCIP).
The event is being held alongside the International Youth Day celebrations.
The E-government Expo Exhibition is running from August 26-27 at Kaunda Grounds in Gulu City.
At this exhibition, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are showcasing their e-services and the journey of progress.
The Expo has attracted both public and private sector players: MDAs, Academia, Innovators, BPO’s , and Fintech companies showcasing the future in digital governance and also providing E-services.
NITA-U boss, Dr Hatwib Mugasa said a total of 1,606 Kms of Optical Fibre Cable were added on-to the Government National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) and connectivity extended to a total of 725 Ministries Departments and agencies (MDAs), District Local Governments (DLGs) and target user groups