The drug procurement system for the government hospitals in Kerala is in trouble as the drug procurement policy drawn up to guide the drug purchases from the year 2005-06 through CPC is yet to be properly implemented.

The delay in issuing the final list of drug procurement, by the CPC, has resulted in scarcity of essential drugs in government hospitals, as the purchase orders were sent by the end of May 2006. The recommendation in state's drug procurement policy was to publish the final purchase list by March 1 every year.

Although the policy was drawn up to curb the possibilities of corruption and irregularities in the purchase of medicines and other items for the Department of Health, the ineffective implementation of the policy is holding up the initiative, sources said.

The Central Purchase Committee (CPC) of the Health Department for supply to the government run hospitals, failed to follow the time line recommended by the policy to complete each stage of procurement, in purchase procedures, according to sources. The policy recommends to commence with the registration in the list of pre-qualification and assessment of requirement by October 31, tender invitation by November 15, receipt of tenders by January 1, opening of tenders by January 3, obtaining test results by February 18 before publication of final list by March 1 every year.

Adding to the delay of drug procurement by CPC, the good faith of the policy has been weakened by another decision from the Directorate of Public Health Services asking the district drug store superintendents to accept the stocks of drugs, ordered for post delivery tests, supplied by the CPC firms immediately on receipt and simultaneously arrange for test of random sample of the drug supplied, alleges the Kerala Government Pharmacists Association (KGPA). The drug procurement policy, notified by the state government by October 2004, recommends that the drugs ordered for post delivery testing at the district medical stores should be conducted in accredited laboratories in the State or outside. The payment for this will be made only when the drug passes the test and duly certified.

In the letter No.MSP2-61998/05/DHS (CPC), dated August 1, 2005, the Director of Public Health Services mentions that the post delivery testing mentioned in policy of procurement of drugs and supplies does not mean that the stock will be taken only after the result of the test. "This clarification is issued as some Store Superintendents are found reluctant to take stock of the medicines supplied by CPC firms for want of post delivery testing result and it seems to be impractical and will cause delay in distributing drugs," continues the letter

The clarification issued by the Directorate seems to weaken the good faith of the policy, while the result of post delivery test is important in determining the quality of the drugs distributed through the government hospitals, explained K C Ajith Kumar, General Secretary, Kerala Government Pharmacists Association (KGPA). He commented that as per the decision of directorate, the drugs are being distributed through the hospitals and distributing outlets even before the quality of the drug get tested, which makes the recommendation in the policy futile.

Meanwhile, the sources from CPC commented that the inspection procedures after opening of the tenders by January 3, requires more time and was the major factor in delaying publication of final list. The committee has to travel all over the country to inspect the factory and facilities of the company, which quoted the tender and the process itself takes a good amount of time.

"We found that the inspection process consumes much of our time from January to April. The experience in preparing the CPC list for 2006-07 shows that the committee should prepone the procedures to meet the schedule," told Dr.Meenu Hariharan, Chairman of CPC for the year 2006-07.

The change of charge on CPC in alternate years, from Director of Health Services and Director of Medical Education, is one of the major problems in tackling the time line recommendations, informed some sources. They said that the head of the committee would be changed once they get into the issues.