Some officials attached to the Health Ministry are working to approve a bid that is ten times more expensive than the price currently available in the market for three essential medicines which were advised to be purchased by the Asian Development Fund, the President of the Federation of Health Professionals, Ravi Kumudesh said.
He noted that tenders have been invited to procure ganciclovir, an antiviral vaccine, linezolid antibiotic and Colistimethate antibiotic, which are essential medicines for patients infected by viruses such as yellow fever and HIV.
Meanwhile, the Health Minister has already received a number of complaints that certain parties are trying to get rid of the companies that had submitted the lowest bid through simple technicalities in order to get the drugs from the company that came up with the highest bid.
However, Kumudesh pointed out that no action seemed to have been taken in this matter.
He said the ganciclovir vaccine expected to be purchased is currently pitched at Rs. 7,000. The vaccine could be bought from a drugstore for around Rs. 9,000. But malicious attempts are underway to buy it through the above tender for Rs. 77,000!
“The linezolid vaccine is also currently being sold at a cost of Rs. 200. It is available at a regular drugstore for around Rs. 600. But plans are being made through the above tender to buy at a much higher price of Rs. 2200,” he said.
“The notable aspect of this scam is that the highest bidder is planning to enter the fray by bidding the highest values for the two drug varieties, albeit the brand is not even registered with the Drug Regulatory Authority,” Kumudesh said. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)
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