Keralam govt. directs KMSCL to expedite medicine purchase orders
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The government has directed Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL) to convene an emergency board meeting and take necessary steps to complete the processing of necessary medicine purchase orders immediately.
If necessary, the agency should get in touch with the State medical corporations of Tamil Nadu or Rajasthan and explore the possibilities of procuring medicines from these bodies to tide over the shortage in the State, the KMSCL was told.
The directives were given at a meeting convened by Health Minister K. Muraleedharan on Tuesday, after reports of medicine shortage, including that of several basic drugs, antibiotics, and rabies vaccine, from periphery hospitals to tertiary care centres were beginning to beleaguer the government, especially since the epidemic season continues to log infectious diseases in large numbers daily.
At the meeting, however, district medical officers stated that medicine stocks were available at hospitals but that the stock was running low in the procurement and storage centres of the KMSCL.
Government hospitals have been facing a shortage of several medicines and medical supplies since the past few weeks. The government initially refused to acknowledge it. However, Mr. Muraleedharan later admitted that some medicines were in short supply and that efforts were on to speed up the procurement process.
The immediate problem appears to have been a result of the delays in the KMSCL’s annual procurement and re-tendering process. The KMSCL is the central agency responsible for supplying medicines to around 8,000 government health-care institutions. In the latest procurement exercise, 180 items reportedly received no bids, while suppliers quoted higher prices for another 171 items. This resulted in re-tendering and delays in placing fresh orders.
The government is now taking several short-term emergency measures and it has asked hospitals to make local purchases immediately using hospital development society funds. However, most public hospitals do not have adequate funds at its disposal because of the huge overdue payments it has to receive from the government, the genesis of which was during the rule of the previous Left Democratic Front government and which has only aggravated over the years.
Mr. Muraleedharan has said that medicines for which purchase orders have already been placed are expected to reach hospitals soon and that all steps were being taken to expedite the process. He has set October 15 as the deadline for resolving the present shortage.
He has also asked the KMSCL to start the procurement process for the next financial year in October itself and complete it at the end of December, with supplies expected from February 2027.
Mr. Muraleedharan directed district health officials to strengthen field-level activities to control infectious diseases and ensure the availability of necessary drugs at periphery hospitals. Health inspectors and other field workers should identify hotspots for diseases and focus on home visits to make people more alert about the epidemic situation.
Senior health officials, district medical officers, and KMSCL officials attended the meeting.
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