A private pharmacy company has been awarded the rights to distribute chronic medication to patients in four provinces.
In a statement on Monday, Afrocentric Group which owns Pharmacy Direct announced that government had awarded the rights to patients in Kwazulu Natal, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Limpopo.
“The contract is a major opportunity of making access to quality healthcare a reality to over a million patients in KwaZulu Natal, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Limpopo, therefore increasing Pharmacy Direct volumes by 50%,” said Antoine van Buuren, Group Chief Executive Officer of AfroCentric Group.
His company recently signed the Central Chronic Medicine Dispensing and Distribution (CCMDD) agreement with the National Department of Health (NDOH).
“The CCMDD programme alleviates long queues at government health facilities and using a different service provider ensures that supply of medicines is monitored and the stock is replenished on a more regular basis,” said Van Buuren.
He said Pharmacy Direct, currently packages 30 000 medicine parcels every eight hours, translating to one parcel per second.
“This three-year contract is a major vote of confidence by the National Department Of Health and we look forward to living up to this challenging task of serving all these provinces.
“For the AfroCentric Group, this is one example of how National Health Insurance will happen in reality and this contract is one such opportunity for us to partner with both the government and broader society,” said van Buuren.
