The Deputy Minister for Supplies and Engineering Affairs at the Ministry of Health (MOH), Dr. Salah Al-Mazrou‘, declared that the Ministry has already set to work an e-Tendering and Procurement System, instead of the paper submission. Dr. al-Mazrou' made this announcement during his meeting with the directors of processing in all Kingdom’s regions, to discuss the way of tendering via this electronic submission system, instead of the paperwork.
Dr. Al-Mazrou‘ went on adding that the health regions are now submitting their needs of supplies or devices for hospitals through the e-system, while the Technical Committee is to open applications, analyze and refer them to the Tender Examination Committee. Besides, he pointed out that this process is still novel and under trial, given that training of the workforce on how to deal with the new system is underway.
“This system aims at saving the time of processing the paper tenders, as the shuttle between regions consumes long time. In addition, it has become easy, especially for the staff of Processing Departments, to know the technical specifications which meet the requirements, as well as the prices, and to compare them with the previous tenders that had been put forward. The system will also make it easier to identify the actual needs of hospitals”, indicated Dr. Al-Mazrou‘.
Furthermore, he pointed out that all Kingdom’s regions are entirely associated with Processing General Department, given that they have no certain classification for companies, but depend on the required specifications. Hence, the system helps them to distinguish all companies, and identify the accepted or rejected ones. Dr. Al-Mazrou‘ has underscored that the Ministry is to contract with well-known international companies, which are registered in the Food and Drug Authority (FDA); in an endeavor to get a good product with the required specifications, as well as getting training on the machine and regular maintenance, aside from ensuring operation of the device entirely.
As a concluding note, Dr. Al-Mazrou‘ stated, “Strenuous efforts are being exerted in coordination with large and global companies to establish factories in the Kingdom, and drive investments in that direction.” Within the same vein, he revealed that two companies (they are: LG and Philips) are likely to build large factories, adding that they currently are dealing with authorized agents. He also cited that this contract shall prove also beneficial in terms of maintenance and provision of spare parts. Dr. Al-Mazrou‘ underlined that MOH will withdraw maintenance contracts from the jurisdiction of the Maintenance and Cleaning Department, and convert them to maintenance contracts with parent companies; so as to make the reference, supply and maintenance of these devices with the original company.