BENGALURU: Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said that there was no shortage of medicines in government hospitals across the state. He said that the tender process for purchasing medicines has been relaxed and that 80% of the medicines were purchased directly.
Opposition members Dr Dhanjaya Sarji and Pratap Simha Nayak, during the half-an-hour discussion in the Council on Tuesday complained that even cold, cough and anti-infective drugs were not available in government hospitals. People are losing faith in government hospitals, and the non-availability of medicines is doing more harm; it takes great effort to instil faith back, the members said and demanded action from the government.
LoP in Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy pointing out the purchase of anti-rabies vaccine, said that while it was supplied for Rs 201 for other states, the Karnataka government purchased it for Rs 282. He alleged that drug officers, in collusion with agents, were involved in the purchase of drugs and that it was a big scam.
Rao, while replying to the members, accepted that there were some discrepancies in the drug purchase with some reaping benefits, and they were addressed now.
He said measures were taken to ensure that there is no shortage of medicines and that Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation Limited (KSMCL) was procuring 80 per cent of the drugs needed through tenders. He told the House that the government hospitals were given money to procure the remaining 20 per cent of drugs.
He also explained that the government has relaxed norms in the drugs procurement and that, to encourage new participation in the tenders, they removed the ‘past performance’ clause. To address the issue of drugs expiring, the Minister said that instead of annual procurement of drugs, they have adopted staggered supply, where medicines are received from the suppliers every three months.
He said medicines worth Rs 270 crore were purchased and they are being distributed to hospitals only after ‘warehouse quarantine’, where the quality of the drugs is tested, and the supply and distribution are tracked.