BMC痴 spending double on anaesthesia
November 5, 2006
Several corporators are asking why the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been buying Sevaflurone, a general anaesthesia drug, at its market price for the past six months. The drug costs around Rs 2,500 for a 100 ml bottle. But until May 2006, the BMC was spending only Rs 1,000 for the drug, as per its tender with a pharmaceutical company. That tender expired in May, and a fresh one hasn稚 been awarded to anyone yet. There are 16 civic hospitals in the city, and these require at least 1,000-1,200 bottles of Sevaflurone over two years.
Sources say that BMC痴 Medical Supplies Committee (MSC) objected to the fact that only one company had responded to the new tender floated by them. So, they have been purchasing the drug directly from the market.
展hen they knew that the tender was getting over in May 2006, why didn稚 they draft a new one well in advance? They are objecting to the fact that only one company has responded to the tender. But the same company has provided us the drug for four years,鋳 said Chairman of BMC Standing Committee Ravindra Waikar.
Waikar further pointed out that the civic body purchases sutures from only one company. 典hey don稚 have any objections to that. But they are delaying the tender concerning this life-saving drug despite the fact that the hospital authorities have given their approval to the committee,鋳 he said.
荘There are only two companies which manufacture the drug. One company has replied and we have been taking the drug from them for four years. The other company has never replied to our tenders. What is the issue now?鋳 asked Ravindra Pawar, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party in BMC.
Dr Nirmala Barse, chairman of the BMC痴 Medical Supplies Committee, was non-committal about the allegations. 荘I have been here for just a year. It痴 only after I joined that work on the tender began. We have forwarded the tender just before Diwali. We don稚 know when it will come up before the Standing Committee,鋳 she said.
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