Health sector now monitoring medicine stocks
The Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr. Bernard Haufiku, together with the United States Ambassador to Namibia, Thomas Daughton, launched a new web-based computer system, the “Pharmaceutical Information Dashboard” to manage medicine stocks countrywide, at Windhoek’s Central Hospital on 23 June.
This dashboard can monitor and track in real-time the availability of essential medicines, vaccines or any other clinical consumable at clinics and hospitals all over Namibia.
The software, which was funded with more than N$7 million by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) also includes a built-in early-warning system that will alert supply chain managers and service providers of potential stock-outs.
“This sophisticated tool will help ensure that the right amounts and the right kinds of medication are in the right places – hospitals, clinics and pharmacies across Namibia – when they are needed,” Daughton said. The Dashboard will also allow managers to shift medicines from facilities that may have too much to others that don’t have enough and place measured orders to meet the country’s-wide needs.
Haufiku, thanked the American people as well as implementing partner MSH (Management Sciences for Health) for their continued support in the health sector.Since 2005, the U.S. government has devoted more than US$ 1.1 billion (about N$16 billion at today’s exchange rate) to help combat HIV and tuberculosis in Namibia.
