JJ Hospital gets 2 months deadline to resolve medicine shortage issue

Government medical hospitals and colleges in the state will have to wait another two months to get their hands on fresh stock of medicines, as per sources in the state health department and Haffkine—the central purchasing authority for medicines and non-surgical items. An official said Covid third wave and no response from bidders are the main reasons behind the delay in procuring the medicines.

The issue of non-availability of medicines at Sir JJ Hospital and the resultant plight of the patients were highlighted by mid-day in a report on Tuesday. The hospital management claimed that as per procedure, they sent their requirements to the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) which is to send the same to Haffkine. An official from Haffkine, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said, “We have got a deadline to resolve the issue within two months.”

When asked about the reasons behind the delay, an official from the health department told mid-day, “The whole process to procure medicines takes around three months. But we have not been getting good responses from bidders since the past few months. They say the price we are quoting is too low. In addition, in view of Covid-19, there has been an irregular supply of active pharmaceutical ingredient—a substance used in finished pharmaceutical products—from China and its neighbouring countries and the cost of manufacturing has also increased.”

The official added, “Another major reason for the delay is Covid-related procurement. During the second and third waves, we were giving priority to purchase of Covid-related medicine and items. Haffkine was also overburdened with many of the staff testing positive for Covid-19. These led to the delay in non-Covid procurement.”

As a central purchasing authority, Haffkine has to purchase around 2,000 medicine and non-surgical items for all government hospitals, medical colleges as well as primary healthcare centres. When mid-day contacted Haffkine Procurement Cell Manager Sushma Patil, she said, “The tender is in process. We will soon procure the medicines and distribution will
take place.”

Health economist Ravi Duggal said, “The state government had made a provision of Rs 2,077 crore for medicines in the financial year 2021-22, of which only Rs 180 crore or 9 per cent was spent. The Budget of 2022-23 has a provision of only Rs 615 crore for medicines, much less than the previous years. If there is enough budget, why is it not being spent properly? There is no transparency in the procurement process and the government and DMER are controlling the whole process.” Mid-Day