THE Government is looking to reduce the vital, essential and necessary (VEN) list of drugs that is procured by the National Health Fund (NHF) by the end of this year, a move that is expected to save the country billions of dollars.

The VEN list, which is developed by the Ministry of Health and the NHF procures, warehouses and distributes VEN list drugs to the public sector, is currently being reviewed.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, who was speaking at NHF’s open day at the Knutsford Court Hotel yesterday, said the cost to procure the number of drugs available on the VEN list proves inefficient, hence the need for a reduction.

“The NHF is really the insurance company of the people, with the main benefit being providing medication. I know you are a functional welfare entity committed to serving the populace at the cost of the taxpayers, [but] the difficulty I have with that kind of arrangement is that to procure and distribute 1,000 drugs to treat 16 different ailments is a lot less efficient than if we had 500 drugs to treat similar ailments. Currently, it is a lot in terms of purchasing value, storage requirement, and I could go on and on,” he said, while addressing the open day, about a number of reforms that have taken place in the local health sector.

Published in 2015, the sixth edition of the List of Vital Essential and Necessary List of Drugs and Medical Sundries for Public Institutions, for example, lists approximately 86 drugs for cardiovascular conditions, 22 drugs for diabetes, 14 drugs for glaucoma, and 30 drugs for psychiatry.

This reviewed list, which the health minister expects to have by the end of August, will be the result of a joint review between NHF, the health ministry and the Pan American Health Organization, and will recommend ideal numbers and variety of drugs to treat different ailments covered by the NHF.

Dr Tufton explained that the reviewed list will “not restrict one patient to one drug, but will be guided by a benchmark practice that says these are the six, seven or eight recommended types of drugs for this particular ailment”.

“It certainly won’t be the 15, 50 or the 60 drugs we have to treat one condition. It’s too many and that’s costing us billions of dollars,” he added.

In fact, Dr Tufton said his own research suggests that the sector could save as much as 25 per cent of cost on drugs if the list is adjusted.

In a presentation at the open day yesterday, NHF CEO Everton Anderson revealed that for the last financial year, the NHF distributed pharmaceuticals and medical sundries valued at approximately $5.77 billion.

Dr Tufton told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that the health ministry is working with PAHO to determine the approach to be taken to cut the list of drugs, by looking at the health profile of the population, drugs required and variety that addresses a medically supported approach to treatment.

In the meantime, Dr Tufton said the other elements of cost-saving for the NHF will include the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which he dubbed as “the appropriate response to the impracticality of the literal interpretation that free health care means everything is free” during his sectoral presentation in Parliament on May 3.

The NHIS, which Dr Tufton hopes to have in place by the start of 2018, is expected to allow those who can afford to pay for public health services to do so, but at the same time not deny those who genuinely are unable to pay.

At yesterday’s open day, the NHF reaffirmed its vision of helping to create a society with no financial barriers to health care and Dr Tufton also charged the entity to see itself as a critical and more responsive player, alongside the ministry, stakeholders and patients with regards to realigning the health-care system and achieving the reform.