Suppliers to prove value

THE six companies selected to supply medicines to public hospitals, health centres and clinics include Borneo Pharmaceuticals, which had been the sole supplier in the past three years.
The others are Multichem, City Pharmacy Ltd, Bucher Muir, Sesago and Supreme Pharma Ltd.
The Health Department will monitor their performance over the next six months.
Those who prove satisfactory will be awarded contracts to distribute pharmaceutical supplies to medical facilities around the country.
Borneo Pharmaceutical’s three-year contract expired last November.
No one was identified then to take over the contract of supplying medicines
It caused a shortage of drugs in medical facilities around the country.
Health Secretary Pascoe Kase in a recent statement said medical supply companies and the department’s business partners at the airlines were ensuring that urgent medical supplies quickly reached the hospitals which had run out of medicines.
Supreme Pharma PNG Ltd has been a supplier of medical supplies in the country for more than a decade.
The Sesago Group of Companies was established in 2009 “to bring superior standard, best quality, timely and affordable healthcare products and services” to PNG.
Multichem is a privately-owned pharmaceutical company established in 1966. The company has its own dedicated sales force to service pharmacy, supermarket channels and hospitals.
CPL Group is a leading retail and wholesale organisation founded in 1986 and listed on the Port Moresby Stock Exchange.
It started as the City Pharmacy chain, bringing primary healthcare support to population centres throughout PNG.