When Yekatit 12 Hospital tallied its supply position in mid-2026, EPSS had delivered only 314 of nearly 1,000 required items (Addis Fortune, May 2026). That is not an isolated number. Across Ethiopia’s public system, essential-medicine availability has been sitting near 79%, and a planned EPSS “multi-vendor” pathway that would let the agency run tenders on behalf of hospitals missed its scheduled rollout, leaving facilities to source the gap themselves. For a hospital pharmacy head or procurement officer, the practical question is no longer whether you will buy privately, but how to do it without importing a quality problem along with the stock. This guide is about doing it safely.
Why the gaps are happening
EPSS remains the backbone of public supply, and it is modernizing. Its “Project SMILE” initiative aims to unify procurement, inventory, warehousing, and distribution on one digital system, with Director General Abdulkedir Gelgelo pointing to end-to-end visibility as the goal. But digital reform takes time to reach the shelf, and in the meantime foreign-exchange pressure, funding shifts, and demand that outpaces central procurement leave real gaps. When a central system supplies a third of what a hospital needs, the facility has to fill the rest or turn patients away. Private procurement stops being optional and becomes routine.
The risk you are taking on when you buy outside EPSS
Buying privately shifts the quality-assurance burden onto you. EPSS runs its own vetting; when you source independently, that responsibility is yours. Specialists have warned that private procurement raises quality-assurance risks and opens entry points for unregulated products, precisely because desperate buyers under time pressure skip checks they would normally insist on. A stockout is a crisis, but a substandard or falsified product on the ward is a worse one. The goal is to fill the gap at the same quality bar EPSS would apply, not below it.
What to demand from a private supplier
- An EFDA certificate of competence for the supplier’s role, current and covering the products you are buying.
- EFDA product registration for every item, checkable against the register, not just a verbal assurance.
- Batch numbers and expiry dates with acceptable remaining shelf life at delivery. Short-dated stock dumped into a shortage is a common trap.
- Proof of proper storage, including logged temperature control for anything cold-chain dependent.
- A named, licensed pharmacist as technical manager standing behind the supply.
- A clear paper trail from source, so you can trace the product back to its registered importer or manufacturer.
A legitimate supplier hands these over without friction. Reluctance is the signal to walk away. We set out the complete process in how to verify a medicine supplier in Ethiopia, and the wider criteria for a dependable partner in how to choose a pharmaceutical supplier.
Build the private channel before you need it
The facilities that handle EPSS gaps calmly are the ones that set up a vetted private supplier in advance, so that when 314 of 1,000 items arrive, the rest is a phone call rather than a scramble. Qualify one or two licensed suppliers now, confirm their registrations and storage, and agree terms while you are not under pressure. That preparation is the difference between a managed gap and an emergency. The same discipline that wins public tenders, covered in how an EFDA pharmaceutical tender works, applies to choosing who backs you up when the central system falls short.
LifeCare is an EFDA-licensed importer and wholesaler supplying hospitals, pharmacies, and a network of more than 200 wholesalers across Ethiopia, with the registrations and documentation to fill gaps at full compliance. Browse our pharmaceuticals range, or contact our team to set up a reliable private-supply line before the next shortfall.
