Factors Affecting Consistency in Supply of Pharmaceutical Products in Government Hospitals in Kenya: A Case Study of Maragua District Hospital

Abstract

This research was made to establish the factors that affected consistency in supply of pharmaceutical products in government hospitals in Kenya. In most cases, the government run hospitals have had inconsistency in supply of pharmaceutical and previous researchers have not identified the reasons culminating to such situations regardless of the huge amounts of budget allocations. The study was carried out in Maragua district hospital with a sample size of 100 individuals comprising of management, procurement department, nursing department and the pharmacy department personnel. The researcher used stratified random sampling. Structured questionnaires were given out to the respondents to fill and the researcher conducted unstructured interviews. Data collected was analysed and it was clear that the procurement process and its management, legal requirements and internal tools used for enhancing procurement greatly determined the timely availability of supplies following.

The researcher identified that the procurement department was understaffed and procurement process was at times not observed. Financing was a major problem. Legal requirements were bureaucratic and lengthened the procurement process leading to inconsistency in obtaining supplies.  The hospital had no core tool for enhancing procurement performance. The legal framework needed review to reduce bureaucracy and shorten the process and training on procurement issues to all hospital procurement players was required to boost their knowledge. The hospital faced several challenges, which included shortage of staff in the procurement department and financial constrains.