Kerala to overhaul KMSCL medicine procurement; new tenders from Oct, substandard drug suppliers to be blacklisted
Kerala's health minister ordered KMSCL to exclude middlemen, allowing direct participation from pharmaceutical firms and authorised agencies to secure medicines efficiently and affordably.
Kerala's health minister ordered KMSCL to exclude middlemen, allowing direct participation from pharmaceutical firms and authorised agencies to secure medicines efficiently and affordably.
Kerala's health minister ordered KMSCL to exclude middlemen, allowing direct participation from pharmaceutical firms and authorised agencies to secure medicines efficiently and affordably.
Thiruvananthapuram: Health and Devaswom Minister K Muraleedharan has directed the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Limited (KMSCL) to overhaul its medicine procurement process, with the tender process for next year's purchases set to begin this October.
The minister has ordered that middlemen be completely excluded from the tender process and that pharmaceutical companies be allowed to participate directly. Authorised direct agencies can also participate in tenders for imported medicines.
The tender process is expected to be completed by December, with medicines to be made available by February. Companies charging exorbitant prices will be excluded from the process.
The directives were issued at a review meeting convened amid reports of medicine shortages in hospitals across the state. Medicines supplied to the government sector in at least two states will be eligible for procurement in Kerala, the minister's office said.
The review also found that several companies that received purchase orders from KMSCL in February manufacture certain medicines exclusively for the corporation.
Muraleedharan directed KMSCL to procure medicines at prices lower than those paid by the in-house drug bank of Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, which currently procures branded medicines at the lowest rates in the state. KMSCL will also have to publish its annual medicine procurement prices on its website.
Middlemen will not be permitted to enter KMSCL premises or receive any form of gratification. Companies supplying any batch of substandard medicines will be permanently blacklisted, the minister said.
Meanwhile, the KMSCL General Manager informed the meeting that essential medicines, including fever medicines and antibiotics, are currently available in hospital stocks. Medicines for which purchase orders have already been placed are expected to arrive by the end of this week.
Muraleedharan added that a comprehensive overhaul of KMSCL is under way to ensure the availability of quality medicines and that its impact would be visible in the coming days.