Accordingly to the newspaper “El Heraldo” of the country, the first joint purchase module of surgical supplies through the System of Purchasing of the Procurement Regulations and Procurement Office (ONCAE, abbreviation in Spanish) was conducted in mid-August 2013, by Hospital Escuela, Ministry of Health and HonduranSocial Security Institute (IHSS).

The new method is an ultimate system that works through a website that manages jointly purchases made by several institutions – in this time: the health sector.

Héctor Martín Cerrato, ONCAE director, said that this mechanism allows high quality purchasings with significant savings for the institutions. “These purchases can generate savings, transparency and above all a fast delivery of products,” said Cerrato. He, who is also a lawyer, explained that this surgical supplies purchasing – that costed five million lempiras (Honduras currency) – a 54% saving was achieved.

“This pleased us, because when this process began a year ago, the savings were predicted to stay between 18 and 21 percent,” he said. He assured that the quality of the products is guaranteed since the process had technical assistance for one year from the Treasury Department of the United States.

In the last months, President Porfirio Lobo and the head of the National Congress, Juan Orlando Hernández, reported that a law would be established to regulate a new mechanism for drug and medicines purchase. “In a few days I will be before you here announcing the way on how we are going to buy medicines in hospitals and also end another dreadful corruption network we have been having in Honduras,” said Lobo.

He added that this is a long term task that has been called on by the latter health ministers. For his part, Juan Orlando Hernández remarked that Congress was preparing a document that they would deliver to the Minister of Health suspended, Roxana Araujo, but now they will change to work together with the Presidential Commission of Health. “The approval of the Procurement and Purchase Law granted by the Congress is a transparent mechanism that uses technology and reverse auction to remove the whole scheme of corruption in the purchase of medicines” said Hernández.

This instrument will be incorporated to the purchase of medicines system because it allows bidders to compete for the lowest price with “huge benefit to the State”. He explained that by this method the State publishes in a website the list of medicines it needs and the cheapest price it gets in the latter year will be the maximum payable.

“From that maximum payable price, bidders compete by offering lower prices and after the determined period for the purchase offers, it will be purchased the one with the lowest price”, said the head of the Legislative Power.