Introduction and Background
Laboratorios de Biológicos y Reactivos de México (Birmex), a state-owned organization in Mexico, has announced the implementation of a new centralized purchasing model for medical supplies and pharmaceuticals. This strategic move aims to address the supply shortages that have affected patients and public health institutions in recent years.
The New Purchasing Model
As part of the Institutional Program 2025-2030, published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación (DOF) on January 6, Birmex’s new model focuses on five key points. The centralized purchasing strategy seeks to:
- Eliminate supply shortages by optimizing demand planning and integration for medical supplies and pharmaceuticals.
- Ensure timely and appropriate distribution to public health units across the country, reducing administrative failures.
- Implement a comprehensive monitoring system for the health supply chain, allowing real-time tracking of medical supplies distribution to institutions.
- Optimize costs for the state by 2030, reducing dependence on imports and private suppliers.
- Improve distribution logistics to ensure timely and complete delivery of medications and medical materials to all health units nationwide.
Supply Availability Improvement Plan
The new model will gradually restore supply availability, increasing from 90% in 2025 to 100% by 2029. Birmex aims to modernize its production facilities with academic institution support, ensuring national demand is met with high-quality domestic production.
Addressing Past Challenges
Birmex acknowledges that underutilization of its production, logistical, and commercial capacities has limited its contribution to the national health supply system. Previous administrations focused on acquiring vaccines and pharmaceuticals for immunization programs, neglecting the reactivation and modernization of production facilities.
This situation reduced Birmex’s operational potential in terms of installations and resources, which could have been directed towards diversifying national production of vaccines and medications to address public health-threatening diseases.
Current Challenges and Solutions
Birmex recognizes that ensuring a stable supply of healthcare essentials remains a challenge, affecting public access to crucial treatments. Recent years have seen recurring shortages of medications in public institutions due to inefficiencies in purchasing and distribution processes.
The organization attributes these issues to operational, logistical, and structural limitations in the production, acquisition, storage, and distribution of strategic medical supplies. These challenges have led to inefficiencies in purchasing processes and reduced medication availability in public health institutions.
Key Questions and Answers
- What is Birmex’s new centralized purchasing model? The new model aims to optimize demand planning and integration for medical supplies, ensuring timely distribution and reducing administrative failures.
- How will this model improve supply availability? The model gradually increases supply availability from 90% in 2025 to 100% by 2029, modernizing Birmex’s production facilities and focusing on domestic high-quality production.
- What challenges has Birmex faced in the past? Past administrations underutilized Birmex’s production, logistical, and commercial capacities, focusing on acquiring vaccines and pharmaceuticals for immunization programs instead of modernizing production facilities.
- What are the current challenges in ensuring a stable supply of healthcare essentials? Inefficiencies in purchasing and distribution processes, along with structural limitations in production, storage, and distribution of strategic medical supplies, have led to recurring medication shortages in public health institutions.
