Africa-Press – Cape verde. The chairman of the Board of Directors of EMPROFAC (PCA), João Spencer, justified the sharp drop in the company’s net results, in 2021, with the situation of unusable medicines with expired deadlines, but also with the acquisition of masks in the context of the fight of covid-19.
With the covid-19 pandemic, EMPROFAC acquired a set of masks that “had to come by plane, with high air freight costs”, explains this manager, noting that, at the time, prices were “excessive”. But after the normalization of the production of masks worldwide, “prices fell sharply”.
Loss of more than 90 thousand contos with masks
It also recalls the issue of community masks that were acquired as part of a political decision and states that both EMPROFAC and the Government had information that these masks would be marketable and would also be a way of encouraging the national industry.
“We purchased the masks for 170 escudos, but the reality of the market has completely changed and nowadays it is possible to buy surgical masks for 5 escudos or even less”. With the acquisition of these masks, EMPROFAC had to bear a loss of more than 90 thousand contos.
Regarding expired medicines, João Spencer clarified that in 2019 there was a crisis that caused the rupture of drugs for hypertension worldwide, with repercussions in Cape Verde.
To deal with this situation, “EMPROFAC was looking for these medicines internationally and placed several orders, in the hope that some supplier could supply these products more quickly”.
However, at a certain point, these orders began to arrive in a rush and “we were left with an excess of stock”.
But, according to this manager, covid-19 ended up complicating things, as people stopped making appointments and, as a result, there was a reduction in the consumption of these medicines.
“The consumption of almost all medicines for chronic diseases reduced during the period of the pandemic by around 15%”, he says.
Inefficiency in stock management
João Spencer recognizes, however, some “inefficiency” in stock management, as “there are things that, unfortunately, we cannot control”.
To mitigate the “inefficiencies”, EMPROFAC proposes to implement a set of measures, in order to readjust the organic structure in terms of purchases, logistics and commercials and introduce innovations (algorithms and machine learning) in the management of inventories and purchases.
The diversification of the offer of products in the health value chain, the management of the relationship with customers in a personalized way, the optimization of internal processes and the dynamization of the sales force are other measures that EMPROFAC intends to adopt to improve its financial performance. in the next exercise.
On the debts of State institutions, João Spencer clarifies that earlier this year EMPROFAC signed an agreement with the Government, whose draft was published in the Official Bulletin, which allows the settlement of debts, which, until December 2021, had been settled. of almost two years of delay.
“We signed the agreement and in January the State paid the first installment of that debt, until December 2021, which the State must pay in five annual installments. Now, the biggest challenge is not to allow the debts to increase”, he emphasizes.
It was also agreed that State institutions must settle the invoices within a maximum period of 45 days, “until now, things are under control and there is a commitment to try to meet this deadline.
However, as the expenses of the Health Centers and Hospitals “are high”, often the budget twelfths are less than the consumption needs of these hospital services, which ends up generating debts.
excellent reputation
In the midst of all this, João Spencer says that EMPROFAC has “an excellent reputation” among its suppliers, taking into account that almost 100% of purchases are made on credit and with payment terms of up to 120 days, or more. “This has helped us to offset the negative side related to the deadlines for the settlement of public sector bills, which is quite high”, he concludes.
For More News And Analysis About Cape verde Follow Africa-Press
