Public procurement auctions in the health sector and analysis of the financial impact of reduction of foreign origin products

In this study, public procurement in the health sector was examined in terms of procurement method and product origin, taking into consideration the public procurement legislation. The financial impact of reducing the purchase of foreign origin products was analyzed and recommendations were made. For this purpose, data from the Ministry of Health's decision support systems were collected by selecting certain indicators from data banks. The data of public procurement vouchers belonging to the Ministry of Health in the province of İstanbul in 2017 which had been inputted on the Material Resource Management System between 01.01.2017 - 8.08.2018 were used in this research. Turkey Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency data banks and data banks in the Turkish Pharmacists' Association were used to identify the product origins. Data obtained from the data banks were summarized by compiling and utilizing statistical methods. The findings of the study showed that, majority of public procurement in the health sector was purchased through open procurement procedure. Besides, a significant portion of the procurement was made with direct procurement. It was also determined that, most of the purchased products were of foreign origin. Consequently, the financial impact of increasing the share of products of Turkish origin was analyzed. It was estimated that, around 35 million USD foreign exchange outflow and abroad outsourcing could be reduced by increasing the share of domestic products instead of foreign products.