The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to lower the tendering fees for acquiring medicines and essential medical equipment for its hospitals.
This decision comes after concerns were raised regarding the affordability of healthcare supplies. In response to this, Dr. Sudhakar Shinde, the additional municipal commissioner for health, engaged with both vendors and the Central Purchasing Department (CPD) over the weekend.
The tendering fee is the amount that vendors have to pay to participate in the bidding process for supplying medicines and equipment to the BMC. It has traditionally been 7-8% of the total cost. The now-lowered fee remains undisclosed as of now.
According to reports, the tendering fee acted as a barrier for many vendors. Because of this, they chose not to participate in the bidding process. Now, the reduction may allow them to participate in the bidding. A circular regarding this will be released within the next couple of days, officials stated.
Simultaneously, the BMC is revising its healthcare procurement policy. With the goal of increasing medicine availability within BMC hospitals, procurement will be increased so that the medicines that were previously unavailable will also be made available.
In a broader administrative shift, CPD will be restructured. The deans will be relieved of non-clinical duties related to procuring medicines. This change comes after a report published on May 10. The report exposed an artificial shortage of medicines and essential equipment within BMC hospitals. Patients were forced to get these items from external sources. This incurred high costs due to the shortage.
The report quoted the All Food and Drug Licence Holder's Foundation (AFDLHF), an association comprising over 500 drug manufacturers and 1,000 distributors in India. The AFDLHF directly implicated the CPD for its lack of bulk purchase tenders over the past two to three years.
This resulted in an estimated loss of INR 100 crore for the BMC. These concerns were officially communicated to Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on April 11.
Additionally, it has also been announced that expired rate contracts will be used to make the items affordable. The contract will be a prearranged agreement between the BMC and vendors. It will ensure the supply of medicines at fixed prices for a specified period. For this, almost 50 vendors have agreed already.
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