BMC: Hospitals should have a sufficient medicine supply

The BMC deputy municipal commissioner (public health) called for a meeting on 10th May to discuss the artificial shortage of medicines and medical supplies in the BMC-run hospitals. BMC’s CPD (Central Purchase Department) had caused a delay in ordering the medicinal supplies which created a shortage in these municipal hospitals. 

A senior health official present at the meeting revealed that this is just a temporary solution. "Hope the civic body solves the CPD (Central Purchase Department) issues soon." They were instructed to increase the purchase of their supplies so that no patient or relatives should purchase medicines and medical supplies from other private hospitals.

An audit report - Public Health Infrastructure of Health Services in Maharashtra’ for the years 2019-2020 to 2021-2022 states that there was a delay in finalisation of Rate Contract (RC) for different schedules of medicines for a period ranging from four months to 35 months.

CPD department caused a 35-month delay to finalise the RC for chemical stents and laboratory; 18 months for disinfectants; a 29-month delay for surgical items; 17 months for needles and syringes and a two-year delay for blood bags and rubber goods among others. It also stated that the hospitals had to resort to local purchases to fulfil their requirements because the RCs had expired.

The CPD floats tenders every two years as the civic hospitals state their requirement. Once the tenders are awarded, then the price of all medical commodities is fixed and locked for a particular duration called the Rate Contract (RC). Every purchase made by hospitals during the schedule tenure are based on the RC.

The total estimated health budget of BMC for this financial year is ₹6,308.38 crore. There are twelve schedules and each has their different types of medical supplies. For example, Schedule I is for sera vaccines and injections, Schedule II is for tablets and capsules and the rest.  Thereafter, these medicines are supplied by the CPD to the BMC hospitals free of cost. Hospitals are not allowed to purchase these medicinal supplies from outside because these are supposed to be provided by the civic body.

A CPD official commenting on the issue said that “We usually take out an RC for two years. If the RC has expired, we give a NOC for local purchase. Once the NOC is given, the hospital can procure medicines via competitive bidding at the local level. Competitive bidding is the essence of the bidding system. Since the hospitals have purchased medicines at the competitive bidding, the AG audit is not correct.” It is necessary to keep in mind that the points raised in the audit were from the Covid pandemic period when there were no tenders floated and everyone made local purchases with competitive bidding.

It is a concern that there is a dearth of medicines and medical supplies in civic hospitals. This has compelled patients to buy basic medicines like multivitamins and paracetamol and other medical essentials which should come free of cost in BMC hospitals.