Operationalising the Public Procurement Act: Critical Implementation Issues in the Health Entities in Adansi South District, Ghana

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SEPTEMBER, 2006
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Abstract
In the public sector, million of cedis get lost through improper procurement procedures. The government of Ghana with the assistance of the World Bank and other financing and donor agencies introduced procurement methods and procedures in the public sector. However little is known about compliance of the procedures. This study was conducted in September 2006 to examine if the Adansi South health entities were complying with the procurement act. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of questionnaires and discussions were used to collect primary and secondary data from fifty (50) health staff purposively selected from all the health facilities in the district. The study revealed that copies of the procurement act were not available (88%), lack of sensitization training programmes, low involvement of stakeholders in selection of inputs (48%), ignorance of procurement processes within smaller facilities, and non-adherence to procurement processes. Even though there were functional procurement committees, lack of professional procurement officer at posts (64%), inadequate funding (42%) to obtain continuous supply from the Regional Medical Stores, improper stores management facilities (36%) and improper evaluation process for price quotations were identified as affecting compliance of the procurement act. It is recommended that, the MOH/GHS and Procurement Professionals should organize both in-service and external training sessions for health staff in the district, especially those officers who are involved in procurement procedures to update their knowledge and skills. The Public Procurement Board could make proposal to parliament for amendments to some parts of the Public Procurement law to suit the smaller facilities in the districts in connection with purchases.
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A thesis Submitted to the Board of Postgraduate Studies of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in partial fulfilment of the requirements, for the award of the degree in Master of Science in Health Services Planning and Management,
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