BMC cancels weekly off of CPD officers to streamline medicine purchase

Mumbai's civic-run hospitals, facing a shortage of basic medication, have canceled the weekly offs of Central Purchase Department (CPD) officers to streamline the tendering and procurement process of medicines. The CPD has been accused of not floating bulk tenders, causing hospitals to purchase medicines at exorbitant rates from local vendors. Patients have been forced to buy basic medicines from outside. The state government has launched an inquiry into the procurement of medicines and equipment by civic-run hospitals. Emergency meetings have been held to address the issue.

Mumbai: Taking a strict measure to streamline the tendering and procurement process of medicines at the civic-run hospitals, which are currently facing shortage of basic medication, the additional municipal commissioner Dr Sudhakar Shinde on Saturday decided to cancel the weekly offs of Central Purchase Department (CPD) officers.

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The CPD has been accused by a pharmaceutical body of not floating bulk tenders for purchasing medicines, resulting in hospitals to purchase their basic and life-saving medicines, such as paracetamol, antibiotics, injections, saline, surgical gloves and dressing material, from local vendors at exorbitant rates.

This has also impacted patients at these civic-run hospitals who are forced to buy basic medicines from outside.

HT was the first to highlight the artificial shortage in supply of medicines by BMC hospitals forcing patients to buy medicines from outside. The state government on August 4 announced a high-level inquiry into the procurement of medicines and equipment by the hospitals run by the civic body.

To address this pressing issue, the civic body held emergency meetings with the CPD officers and contractors at its headquarters on Saturday.

“The additional municipal commissioner Dr Sudhakar Shinde wanted to understand why companies are not coming forward in the tendering process. There are several pharmaceutical companies producing medicines but during the tendering process, only one company comes forward,” said a senior BMC health official.

Apart from CPD officials, Dr Shinde held a four-hour long meeting with the contractors. “Close to 50 contractors who have been providing medicines to BMC hospitals for years were present. Dr Shinde requested us to provide medicines at an old rate contract for the time being so that patients don’t get affected. He also enquired about the issues we are facing in terms of rules and regulations,” said a contractor.

Following the meeting, a contractor said they will get back to the BMC with their decision at the earliest if they are willing to supply medicines based on the old rate contract. “We are also in talks with the manufacturers about what best can be done,” he added.

Dr Shinde also met the deans and doctors in the second week of August asking doctors to keep track of medicine stock in their departments. On May 10, HT reported on the artificial shortage of medicines at BMC-run hospitals which in turn forced patients to buy medicines, gloves, saline, medical dressing etc. from outside.

The All Food and Drug License Holder’s Foundation (AFDLHF), which represents over 500 pharmaceutical manufacturers and 1,000 distributors across India had alleged that in the last two to three years BMC’s Central Purchase Department (CPD) has not floated tenders for bulk purchases, leading hospitals to procure basic and life-saving medicines from local vendors at exorbitant rates. The body claimed that this has resulted in BMC incurring a loss of almost ₹100 crore over the last two years and had also shared this with municipal commissioner and administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal on April 11.

HT visited some hospitals, and found that relatives of patients were spending heavily on buying medicines. A CAG report titled ‘Public Health Infrastructure of Health Services in Maharashtra’ from 2019-20 to 2021-22 also stated that there was a delay in finalisation of the rate contract for different schedules of medicines for a period ranging from four months to 35 months.