NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Wednesday decided to procure 80,000 vials of anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) on an emergency single bid basis and granted its ex-post facto approval for the already purchased 40,000 vials of vaccine by the health department.
Owing to the vaccine shortage, the state-run hospitals were either sending back patients or referring them to Safdarjung or Ram Manohar Lohia Hospitals that have been procuring the vaccines through other state government contracts.
As per the state government, the Central Procurement Agency could not procure vaccines due to several factors such as withdrawal of rate contract by the bidder, poor availability of ARV in the open market and single bid participation in the CPA open tender.
Meanwhile, the finance department also accorded approval to purchase 30,000 vials from a particular source, since the availability of this vaccine in the local market is also scarce.