Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Drugs supply by May 20

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Drugs and supplies for various districts for the first quarter of the current financial year are expected to be received in full by May 20.

These are supply orders newly placed by the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd. (KMSCL), which has now replaced the old Central Purchase Committee (CPC), for drug procurement and distribution.

However, as there is a shortfall of nearly 50 per cent in the supplies and surgicals that were ordered for the last quarter of 2007-08 by the CPC and which were to have been received by March 31, shortage of certain drugs and surgicals may be felt in some health-care institutions in some districts, managing director of KMSCL Dinesh Arora said.

The KMSCL has already started the distribution of drugs. In Thiruvananthapuram district alone, more than 50 drugs and supplies, the orders for which had been newly placed by the KMSCL, have been received. Some drugs which were to have been supplied in the last quarter through the CPC have also started coming in.

To tide over the temporary shortage of drugs and supplies in certain institutions, the Pharmacists/Assistant pharmacists in respective district medical stores have been asked to issue a Non-Availability Certificate to institutions, to enable them to make local purchase as and when necessary.

As per the memorandum of association of the KMSCL, 90 per cent of the total drug procurement has to be done centrally while 10 per cent can be procured locally.

The district medical officers have been directed to authorise the Superintendents or Medical Officers in hospitals to carry out the local purchase under the existing norms, but for a maximum period of two weeks.

Dr. Arora said that assistant pharmacists and data entry operators have been posted in all districts. All district medical stores or warehouses are to be networked to the KMSCL, for which the hardware has already been supplied. Software installation work is on.

The civil work required for renovating the warehouses is being done by the Kerala Police Housing Construction Corporation.

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