On September 28, Medical Procurement of Ukraine held the Forum for hospitals dedicated to the peculiarities of public procurement of medical goods through the e-catalog Prozorro Market and the prospects for its development.
The event was attended by representatives of the Ministries of Health and Economy, Medical Procurement of Ukraine, the Parliamentary Committee on Public Health, Medical Assistance and Medical Insurance, centralized procurement organizations "Professional Procurement" and "Ukrainian Special Systems," as well as electronic platforms Zakupki.Prom, E-Tender, etc.
The Forum was inaugurated by the Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Liashko. The Minister noted that the use of the e-catalog Prozorro Market was another step towards creating conditions for medical institutions to provide themselves and, accordingly, patients with the necessary medical goods as efficiently as possible. Transparency, reliability and speed of public procurement directly affect the availability of medicines and medical goods for patients, and this is one of our priority tasks.
"E-catalog is a qualitative evolution in the system of regional medical procurement. After all, this story is not about temporary and situational decisions. We are talking about fundamental changes for the better", Viktor Liashko added.
"Procurement practices in the medical sphere of Ukraine are a model for many countries," said Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Nadiya Bigun, -"That is why it is so important to develop a simple and convenient Prozorro Market tool on the basis of the expertise of MPU and other centralized procurement organizations. We strive to make the e-catalog the main tool for the purchase of typical goods. In particular, it is not only about medicines, but also about food. It is also very important to fill the range with building goods, the need for which has increased significantly against the backdrop of Russia's war against Ukraine," said Nadiya Bigun.
In turn, Edem Adamanov, General Manager of the MPU, told the participants about how the medical part of the catalog functions and also about the advantages of its use for hospitals, including speed, convenience, reliability and cost efficiency.
"We are sincerely happy when hospitals demonstrate high rates of savings when using the e-catalog. On average, they save a quarter of the expected cost, but in practice some of them save even up to 50%. This is a great example of the high efficiency and competitiveness of using Prozorro Market, so this is the future of public procurement," Edem Adamanov added.
The chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Public Health, Medical Assistance and Medical Insurance Mihail Radutsky, who was present at the event, noted that at the level of centralized procurement, the MPU manages to save significant funds.
"Just yesterday, the agency signed a contract for the purchase of 15 linear accelerators. The purchase had the largest expected cost in the history of the agency of 1 billion UAH, it was possible to save 482 million UAH or 47% of the approved budget! At the same time, corruption risks arise during procurement at the level of hospitals. One of the effective tools to increase the efficiency of regional procurement is the e-catalog Prozorro Market. The Committee on the Health of the Nation continues to support the Ministry of Health and insists that more and more regional purchases should go to the Ukrainian procurement organization," said Mihail Radutsky.
Vitaliy Ovsyannikov, Development Advisor of the MPU, informed about the practical use of the e-catalog and focused on step-by-step instructions on how hospitals can purchase using this tool: "The customer buys from Prozorro Market through the request for proposals tool. That means that he informs the system about his intention to purchase a particular product and suppliers offer their prices. The system itself determines the most profitable price. All suppliers in the medical part of the e-catalog are reliable and verified, because they are qualified and checked by the MPU team," Vitaliy Ovsyannikov explained.
The forum was also attended by representatives of the State Institution "Professional Procurement" and the State Enterprise "Ukrainian Special Systems," which administer consumer goods and IT products in the e-catalog. In turn, representatives of electronic platforms present at the event shared their practical experience in using the e-catalog, namely, they talked about its functionality.
The event was organized with the support of USAID and the project 'Safe, Affordable, and Effective Medicines for Ukrainians' (SAFEMed), which has been a reliable partner of the MPU since its inception and, in particular, supported the implementation and development of the e-catalog Prozorro Market.