Purchase of medicines to be made transparent

The public health department has announced that it would bring about complete transparency in the procurement of medicines and medical equipment with the help of a computerised system. The department announced an investigation into the prevalent corruption in the process and said the new procurement policy would soon be implemented by three high-tech centres across the state.

The issue of rampant corruption in procurement of medicines was raised by the opposition during a discussion on the budget allocation for public health on Thursday. Public Health minister Suresh Shetty announced that his department was in the process of introducing a procurement policy that would be high-tech and transparent. He said the procurement and utilisation of the medicines and equipment will be tracked by a high-power committee and the officials in Mantralaya.

“We have abolished the rate contract policy for the purchase of the medicines and equipment scrapping the involvement of the middlemen and agencies. The new tendering process will entertain only manufacturers of medicines and equipment. The procurement committee, which will comprise renowned doctors and police officials, will monitor the entire process. The utilisation of stock will be tracked with the technological mechanism through e-governance. Three centres at Jagaon, Pune and Nagpur will check the quality of the medicines,” said Shetty.

“We have already started the probe by the Anti-Corruption Bureau into the anomalies in Mumbai. A committee headed by the additional chief secretary will probe into the charges in other part of the state,” he said.