Effect of Procurement Practices on Medicine Procurement Effectiveness in Tanzania’s Regional Referral Hospitals: Evidence from Mwananyamala, Amana, and Temeke Hospitals

Background Efficient procurement practices are essential to ensuring the availability, affordability, and quality of medicines in public healthcare systems. Despite various reforms in regulatory frameworks and public procurement systems, Tanzanian regional hospitals continue to face frequent stock-outs and procurement inefficiencies, leading to treatment delay and increased financial burden on patients. This study examined the effect of procurement practices, specifically procurement planning, supplier selection and evaluation, and contract management, on the effectiveness of medicine procurement in regional referral hospitals in Dar es Salaam. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional quantitative design was used, involving 80 respondents from Amana, Temeke, and Mwananyamala regional referral hospitals. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS version 31. Correlation and multiple regression analyses tested the relationships between procurement practices and the effectiveness of medicine procurement. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, with all variables exceeding 0.70. Results All three procurement practices positively and significantly influenced medicine procurement effectiveness. Procurement planning had B = 0.298, p < 0.001, showing that improved planning enhances timely and cost-effective medicine availability. Supplier selection and evaluation had B = 0.185, p < 0.001, indicating that effective supplier management improves medicine reliability and quality. Contract management had the strongest effect with B = 0.433, p < 0.001, demonstrating that proper contract oversight, timely payments, and risk management ensure consistent high-quality supply. Together, these practices explained 94.2% of the variation in procurement effectiveness (Adjusted R² = 0.940), highlighting their combined impact on improving hospital medicine procurement if implemented effectively. Conclusions Effective and joint implementation of procurement planning, supplier evaluation, and contract management can improve medicine procurement and reduce stock-outs in regional hospitals. Strengthening accountability, compliance monitoring, and supplier management is key to sustaining improvements in public medicine supply systems.