Mumbai: To address the challenges faced by civic hospitals in the procurement of medicine through the Central Purchase Department (CPD), the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has planned to make changes in the tendering processes and increase manpower for the fast and smooth procurement of medicine.
The state government had initiated an inquiry into the matter, which revealed a significant shortage of basic medicines, forcing patients to seek external sources for their medical needs. The Additional Municipal Commissioner, Dr Sudhakar Shinde, acknowledged the hurdles and loopholes in the procurement process that contributed to the shortages, causing inconvenience to patients.
Need for uniform medicine supply
In response, an urgent meeting was held with all stakeholders and CPD officers to streamline the process, and keep the dean out of non-clinical work. Dr Shinde emphasised the need for a smooth supply of medicines, as well as the exploration of multiple vendors or stakeholders instead of relying on a single company.
The corporation intends to reduce tendering costs and encourage the involvement of more distributors to prevent monopolies. “We need more vendors to show interest for medicine supply so that the civic hospitals don’t have to depend on one vendor. We will expedite tenders to streamline the medicine procurement process through CPD in three months,” said Dr Shinde.
However, a recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), titled ‘Public Health Infrastructure of Health Services in Maharashtra’ from 2019-20 to 2021-22, highlighted that there is a delay in finalising rate contracts for various schedules of medicines, ranging from four to 35 months.
Corruption allegations in central purchase department
The All Food and Drugs License Holder's Foundation alleged corruption within the central purchase department, resulting in a revenue loss of over ₹100 crore for the BMC. They also pointed out the presence of over 500 pharmaceutical manufacturers and 1000 distributors across India supplying medicines to civic and state-run hospitals.
