Factors contributing to non- compliance to procurement planning in selected referral hospitals in Uganda

Abstract

This study assessed the factors that contribute to non-compliance to procurement planning in selected referral hospitals in Uganda. The study was guided by the following objectives: to determine the extent to which individual capacity factors contribute to non-compliance to procurement planning in referral hospitals, to establish the extent to which institutional challenges contribute to non-compliance to procurement planning in referral hospitals and find out the extent to which technology factors affect procurement planning in referral hospitals. A cross sectional survey was employed to collect data targeting a sample of 210 respondents. The study yielded a response rate of 80%. Purposive random sampling was used to select PDU administrative staff while the rest of the stakeholders were selected using simple random sampling. A structured questionnaire, through face-to-face interviews, was administered on the sampled respondents. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics mainly percentages. The majority (98.4%) of stakeholders consented that procurement planning staff are not adequately motivated by their salary enumeration.73% consented to existence of inadequate staff while 89.3% consented to existence of inadequate budgets. 89.1% of the stakeholders perceived the procurement panning process as too complex to implement while 69.9% of the stakeholders perceived prevalence of opportunism/un ethical conduct among stakeholders while 76.9% consented to limited punitive action against poor procurement planning performance. 80.5% of respondents perceived limited coordination among procurement planning stakeholders. Over 90% of respondents consented to limited awareness of either knowledge or skills or application of IT in procurement planning. It was concluded that Referral hospitals experienced critical capacity gaps and institutional challenges that contribute to non-compliance to procurement planning. The study provides recommendations for improving procurement planning in Referral Hospitals of Uganda.