Mumbai: The standing committee of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday objected to the proposal tabled for the tender relating to medicine suppliers, as it included the names of the nine companies which had been put on the corporation’s defaulter list for delaying supply of medicines to civic hospitals.
Committee chairman Yashwant Jadhav asked the administration to strike off the names of these nine suppliers from the list, after which the proposal was approved.
Non-timely supply of medicines from the suppliers earlier appointed has caused immense suffering to citizens who go to civic hospitals for care. Despite instructions to suppliers, they failed to remedy the situation. The standing committee had sought strict action against such irresponsible suppliers.
After the BMC cracked down on errant companies, the union of medicine suppliers had threatened to stop supplying medicines to hospitals in protest.
After the BMC issued a stern warning, the union backtracked. The companies which fail to deliver medicines on time, must pay a fine of Rs 14-15 lakh.
Daffodil was the first company against which the BMC acted. Show-cause notices were also issued to four other companies for failure to ensure timely supply of drugs, including Venus Remedies Limited (Life Line Pharma), which was blacklisted.
