Proactive Strategic Sourcing: A Game Changer For Public Hospital Performance In Kenya

Abstract

Governments across the globe have made commitments towards the achievement of the right to health. This basic human right is enshrined in global, regional, and national health frameworks. To support this, the Government of Kenya has instituted various reforms aimed at achieving good health. However, despite these reforms, there is still sourcing problems in the public hospitals in Kenya attributed to poor supplier relationships and inadequate procurement planning. There is an unavailability of medicines, equipment, and essential supplies with only 33% of public hospitals having adequate stock for 90 days or more and 67% accounting for an unavailable medical stock for up to 30 days or more. Only 14 doctors are available to serve 10,000 Kenyans, resulting in long waiting times for patients in hospital queues. Mounting evidence advances that proactive strategic sourcing is a key contributor to organisational performance. Therefore, the study investigated the effect of proactive strategic sourcing on the performance of public hospitals in Kenya. The study was guided by resource orchestration theory, adopted a positivism philosophy, and utilised descriptive and explanatory research designs. The study's target population was 243 public hospitals in Kenya. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Employing a multiple regression analysis on data from public hospitals across Kenyan counties, the study revealed that supplier relationship and procurement planning play an important role in enhancing the performance of public hospitals in Kenya. The study recommends that the Ministry of Health, Chief Executive Officers, and Medical Superintendents of public hospitals adopt proactive strategic sourcing in the form of supplier relationship and procurement planning to promote relevance, financial viability and effectiveness of the public hospitals.