Logistic Management Department (LMD) under Department of Health Services (DoHS) maintains that due to multi-year contract with the company, the government is compelled to buy certain medicine from the same company. But a source at DoHS told Republica the company has already paid bribes to the authorities concerned. And, that is why DoHS is procuring and supplying medicine from the tainted company. [break]
Officials at Primary Health Revitalization Division (PHRD) under DOHS, which supplies medicine to government-run health centers, said they have no clude about procurement of medicine from a company whose medicine was proved substandard in the past.
Minerals manufactured by the company were proved substandard and hazardous to health. The Supreme Court (SC) had asked the ministry not to distribute the defective medicine. After the SC directive, the ministry had recalled the medicine from across the country. More than 10 million packets of the medicine were believed to have crumbled.
LMD said new batch of iron supplements will arrive in the third week of February. “We have already signed multi-year contract with the company. The same company will supply the medicine,” Dr Mingmar Gelgen Sherpa, Director of LMD, said.
Secretary in the health ministry Dr Pravin Mishra said he is waiting for the report of the committee, which the ministry had formed to probe into the matter. “I can answer on this topic only after I get the report. If the company is found guilty, the ministry will blacklist it,” he added. Secretary Mishra added he believes there is some foul play but he has not questioned anybody on this. He said DoHS can give an answer but director of DoHS Dr Yasovardan Pradhan could not be reached for his comments.
LMD said the company will replace substandard medicine with quality ones. “As per the agreement, the company will take back all substandard medicines and supply quality medicines,” Sherpa said. He said LMD cannot procure medicine from another company as DoHS has made a multi-year agreement with the company. LMD has tasked Delhi-based ARBRO Laboratories Ltd for analyzing the medicine.
“This time, the testing process will be rigorous as 13 samples out of 25 packets will be analyzed,” Sherpa said. He said as per the root square testing method, five packets of medicine will be examined out of 25. But after the defect seen in the previous batch, LMD has sought quality report of 13 packets out of 25.
Department of Drugs Administration (DDA) does not have the expertise to check the quality of the medicines. “We don´t have any accredited drug laboratory, which can examine the quality of drugs, so we asked ARBRO Laboratories Ltd of India to analyze the quality,” he added. Sherpa claimed LMD will not compromise on quality of drugs.
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