Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Ltd has invited bids to start a centralised drug procurement and distribution system. The corporation has also zeroed in on a temporary warehouse to stock medicines before being despatched to districts and medical colleges.

Officials in the Bihar State Health Society said the bids to purchase medicines for supply to the state government hospitals were invited around two weeks ago. The warehouse selected belongs to a state co-operative society in Masaurhi, around 40km from Patna.

Till a permanent warehouse is constructed, the medicines procured through the centralised system will be stored in Masaurhi before despatch. “The warehouse is spread across 50,000sqft. It has been finalised till we come up with a permanent construction,” said a senior State Health Society, Bihar officer.

The corporation, a non-profit organisation under the Companies Act, 1956, will be responsible for the procurement of quality drugs, equipment, service and works for the department of health and family welfare. It has adopted the centralised drug procurement system and would follow the Tamil Nadu model, where medicines are stored at a state-level warehouse.

The essential drugs, after being procured by the corporation from enlisted agencies, will be distributed to hospitals according to their requirement. The corporation is also planning to introduce a hi-tech drug infantry management system, which will enable the department to deal with shortage of medicine stock, and encourage better co-ordination between different districts.

The state provides free medicines for most common ailments to outdoor and indoor patients at all government health facilities. While at present, the availability of medicines in the hospitals is supply-oriented, the new system promises to make it demanded-oriented, making it more effective.

“Efforts to streamline the drug procurement and distribution had been made though rate contracting and cash and carry system. Through this, civil surgeons in all 38 districts and superintendents in medical colleges were authorised to buy about 223 medicines from 44 drug agencies at pre-approved rates. But now, the corporation will take over the job,” the Bihar State Health Society officer said.

State Health Society, Bihar fixed a limit to buy medicines at a particular rate. Once they are delivered, the payment is made. The officer added: “The corporation’s primary aim would be to procure and ensure provision of quality drugs, equipment, services and works in right quantities in a timely manner and at the most optimal rates. This would ensure the provision of value-for-money services in a transparent and equitable manner to the people of Bihar and improve the performance of the healthcare system through systematic improvements in the quality, effectiveness and coverage of health services through proper infrastructure.”

Drug purchase deals and distribution system in the state has drawn severe flak recently, as large-scale irregularities were reported from various districts. In many cases, civil surgeons at the district-level allegedly bought drugs at high rates and from sub-standard medicine agencies, not enlisted with the department. Short-expiry medicines have also been bought, causing heavy loss to the state exchequer.