By Michael Gwarisa
Parliament has resumed its inquiry into Zimbabwe’s medicines supply system, with lawmakers probing the operations of the National Pharmaceutical Company of Zimbabwe (NatPharm) and questioning whether public investment in medicines is translating into reliable supplies for patients.
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care, chaired by Emkhandeni legislator Hon Descent Collins Bajila, is conducting the inquiry as part of efforts to understand the challenges affecting the procurement, storage and distribution of essential medicines to public health institutions.
Addressing NatPharm management during the committee’s visit to the institution’s Chinhoyi facility, Bajila said Parliament wanted to establish what happens between the allocation of resources for medicines and the point at which those medicines reach patients.
“When medicines do not reach our health facilities, the consequences are felt directly by patients,” Bajila said.
He said the committee’s inquiry would focus on whether the country’s pharmaceutical supply chain was sufficiently responsive to the needs of the health sector.
Among the issues under scrutiny are financing, procurement, inventory management, demand forecasting, distribution and institutional capacity.
The committee is also examining concerns around governance, accountability and the slow adoption of digital systems within the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Bajila said Parliament was particularly interested in determining whether medicines were being procured in sufficient quantities, reaching health facilities on time and being properly managed and accounted for once they entered the supply system.
He also questioned whether the existing systems were capable of anticipating demand, rather than allowing the health sector to repeatedly respond to medicine shortages.
The inquiry comes against a backdrop of continuing concerns over the availability of medicines in Zimbabwe’s public health system, where shortages can have a direct impact on patients who rely on government facilities for treatment.
NatPharm plays a central role in the public pharmaceutical supply chain, with responsibility for procuring, storing and distributing medicines and medical supplies to public health institutions.
Bajila said the committee was therefore seeking to understand the institution’s operational challenges while avoiding predetermined conclusions.
“We therefore come here not with predetermined conclusions, but with questions that require honest answers and practical solutions,” he said.
The committee also wants to examine how effectively public resources allocated to medicines are ultimately converted into health services for citizens.
Bajila said parliamentary oversight should go beyond determining how much money is allocated to the health sector and instead examine what citizens receive from those investments.
“For us, this means looking beyond how much money is allocated and asking a more fundamental question: What does the citizen receive as a result of that investment?” he said.
The committee’s inquiry is also expected to examine the distribution of medicines between urban and rural health facilities, with Bajila stressing the need for equitable access for rural and marginalised communities.
He said modernising NatPharm would be critical to strengthening the pharmaceutical supply chain, particularly through greater use of data and digital technologies.
“Integrated logistics systems, improved forecasting and digital procurement can strengthen efficiency while reducing vulnerabilities within the system,” Bajila said.
The committee believes stronger digital systems could improve visibility of medicine stocks, strengthen forecasting and enable authorities to respond more effectively to changing demand across the health system.
Bajila said the country needed to look beyond addressing immediate shortages and focus on building a pharmaceutical supply system capable of meeting future health needs.
“Behind every procurement figure is public money. Behind every stock level is a health facility waiting for supplies. And behind every medicine is a patient waiting for treatment,” he said.
The committee is expected to engage NatPharm management further during the inquiry and facility tour as it seeks to identify weaknesses within the national pharmaceutical supply chain and possible interventions.
Bajila said the ultimate objective was not simply to identify shortcomings at NatPharm, but to develop practical and sustainable recommendations that could strengthen the medicines supply system.
The findings of the inquiry could provide Parliament with a clearer picture of where bottlenecks occur between the financing and procurement of medicines and their eventual delivery to patients, while informing possible reforms to improve the reliability and resilience of Zimbabwe’s public pharmaceutical supply chain.
