The Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply Service has won the Gold Award at the fifth Africa Supply Chain Excellence Awards, held in Pretoria, South Africa, recognising reforms in pharmaceutical procurement and supply chain management.
EPSS Director General Dr Abdulkedir Gelgelo said the recognition reflects improvements in procurement, digital transformation, enterprise resource planning and the use of data in decision making.
He said the achievement brings EPSS closer to its goal of becoming one of Africa’s most efficient and responsive supply chain institutions by 2030.
The state owned enterprise procures and distributes essential medicines and medical supplies to more than 420 hospitals, 4,100 health centres and 18,500 health posts across Ethiopia.
The recognition follows a broad transformation programme aimed at addressing longstanding procurement delays, fragmented information systems and weaknesses in pharmaceutical distribution.
EPSS previously reported that procurement processes could take as long as 400 days, partly because pharmaceutical purchases were governed by general procurement rules that did not sufficiently account for issues such as medicine shelf life, lengthy delivery periods and Ethiopia’s high dependence on imported pharmaceutical products.
Following regulatory reforms, Procurement Directive No. 1066/2025 introduced measures including electronic procurement, electronic reverse auctions and framework agreements of up to seven years.
EPSS said the changes have reduced average procurement cycles from about 400 days to fewer than 115 days, while international bidding periods have fallen from 45 days to 20 days.
The institution has also introduced an enterprise resource planning system based on SAP S/4HANA, integrating financial management, inventory, human resources and fleet logistics.
Direct delivery to health facilities now represents about 77 percent of total distribution. During the current budget year, EPSS distributed medical supplies valued at Birr 64 billion nationwide.
Despite the improvements, medicine availability remains at 79 percent. EPSS said budget limitations and localised shortages continue to prevent it from reaching its target of full availability of essential medicines.
Source: Capital Ethiopia Newspaper
