Crown Agents was recently awarded the Healthcare Project of the Year award at the British Expertise International Awards Dinner, in recognition of our work with the Zambian Government to restore its national health supply system through improvements to its central medical store, Medical Stores Limited.
Over the past four years Crown Agents has provided the full range of technical expertise required for a modern drugs storage and distribution warehouse. To date we have:
- provided highly qualified senior management
- implemented a Financial Management System
- acquired a new Warehouse Management System (MACS)
- implemented a new Transport Management System
- developed an HR system including Staff Development Plans. This has already resulted in 95% receiving formal training
MSL is once again viewed as a key player in Zambia's health service delivery, and other health contributors are now choosing to route their medicines through MSL, rather than operate parallel logistics systems, as they have in the past.
The visits MSL receives from health managers in other countries illustrate how it has become a model for central medical stores operations in Sub-Saharan Africa and an example of what can be achieved.
The improvements in secure storage and delivery of essential drugs and other health commodities would not have been possible without the significant collaboration between all development partners in Zambia, including USAID, DFID, SIDA, the World Bank, and most importantly the Zambian Government, which has shown tremendous leadership in these reforms.