Several suppliers of medicines under the banner of 'All Food and Drug license Holders Foundation' have threatened to stop supply of medicines to government-run hospitals in the state due to unpaid bills from Haffkine Institute in Parel.
Over 150 suppliers providing medicines to nearly 22 state government-owned hospitals in Maharashtra have threatened to stop supply of medicines from Monday onwards, if the reimbursement of their pending bills worth nearly Rs 200 crore is not made immediately.
This was decided in a meeting of the All Food and Drug license Holders Foundation held in Mumbai last weekend. The association members also held a protest demonstrations at Haffkine Institute at Parel in South Mumbai, to vent out their grievances.
“If the bills are not paid immediately, then we will be left with no alternative, but to stop supply of medicines,” said Abhay Pande, President of the All Food and Drug license Holders Foundation.
The contracts to provide medicines are given by the Haffkine Biopharmaceutical Corporation Ltd (Haffkine Institute) to different vendors. This responsibility has been bestowed upon the Haffkine Institute, by the Medical Education and Drugs Department (MEDD) of the state government since last year. However, sources claim that the Haffkine has not paid the bills since long.
Sources also informed that the bills were to be cleared by the Haffkine General Manager Sampada Mehta. “However, she kept the bills pending and then proceeded on leave. She was subsequently transferred out. Later, the temporary charge was given to Health Commissioner Yadav. However, the bills remained unpaid again. Now, Dr Rajesh Deshmukh has been appointed as the new GM of Haffkine. However still, there is no information on the unpaid bills as Deshmukh has been deployed for election duty and is expected to resume only after 15 days,” sources said.
Last year, Maharashtra government had appointed the Haffkine as the nodal agency to purchase medical supplies. The government had mandated that the government departments including health and medical education should procure medicines and machinery from the ‘Haffkine Institute’.
It was also decided to provide human resources for the purchase department of the ‘Haffkine Institute’ and prepare a pattern regarding the same. The institute is supposed to distribute the said medicines, equipment and related goods to hospitals, clinics and medical colleges run by the Public Health and Medical Education departments and civic bodies. However, apparently the institute has been unable to handle this gigantic work of providing medicines right from ZP to different district hospitals.
It may be recalled that in 2017, the Supreme Court, had censured the Haffkine for violating Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) norms while floating tenders worth Rs.150 crore for the supply of bulk drugs.