Pay Rs 170 Crores Else Medicine Supply To Government Hospitals Will Be Stopped: AIDFLHF
Mehab Qureshi
Pune, November 17, 2020: All India Drug and Food License Holders Foundation has warned the government to pay Rs 170 crores by next Tuesday, or the supply of medicines to government hospitals will be stopped again.
The Haffkine Institute runs the procurement process for government hospitals. Under that process, the tenders are issued for the suppliers. Medicines are supplied to government hospitals by companies after their tenders are approved. The companies are then paid for the medicines by the government.
There are more than a hundred drug suppliers of various companies operating in the state. They supply medicine to several government hospitals. In January, the Haffkine Institute announced a tender process for hospital medicines.
According to the Haffkine institute, some companies had given medicines to hospitals. About Rs 250 crores worth of drugs were supplied. Of this, Rs 220 crore was owed by the suppliers. Efforts were being made for three months to recover this amount. The government did not heed that demand.
“Finally, from November 12, the suppliers refused to supply the medicine. After that, the director of Haffkine Society, Sourav Vijay, gave us Rs 40-50 crore through the government. Therefore, we have suspended the role of stopping the supply for the time being”, said Abhay Pandey, National President, All India Drug and Food License Holders Foundation.
“The government has promised to release the remaining Rs 170 crore by next Tuesday. Drugs are vital and being a lifesaver, we can’t stop it. We are undoing supplies because of the government stand. But if the amount is not received on Tuesday, we will stop resupplying medicine”, he added.
