[india-drug] Drug Procurement in Tamil Nadu

[Sunitha Srinivas <s.srinivas@ru.ac.za>]

(From Pharmabiz with thanks.
It would be a good experience if the Technical Coordinators of all the
states could share the experiences of drug procurement from the various
states in India. Thanks?SS) 

Subject: Chennai HC directs TNMSC to procure 50% drugs from TN units in
price preference issue

Monday, December 15, 2003 08:00 IST 
P B Jayakumar, Chennai

The Chennai High Court in an interim order has asked the Tamil Nadu
Medical Service Corporation (TNMSC) to procure half of its drug
purchases from the local drug manufacturers, in an important verdict
related to the many year long price preference issue involving TNMSC
and the manufacturers based in Tamil Nadu. 

Sources informed Pharmabiz that the court in its interim judgment
ordered TNMSC to ensure 50 per cent of drug procurement from
manufacturers based in Tamil Nadu with price preference, and would have
to reimburse the amount to the manufacturers if the final verdict was
against it when the court takes up the case by the end of January, next
year. The interim order was to ensure the local firms get at least half
of the business from this year's tender process, which was in the final
stages of completion, said sources. 

By this verdict, if a manufacturer outside the state quotes Rs.12 for a
drug, and the local manufacturer quotes Rs.12.40 for the same, TNMSC
will have to consider the L1 higher quote by the local manufacturer,
and will have to reimburse the additional amount if the verdict goes
against it. The interim verdict is based on a series of cases filed
recently by about eight drug manufacturing units in the state, which
are participating in this year's tender process. The petitioners
pleaded court's intervention to ensure 15 per cent price preference
offered to SSI units based in Tamil Nadu while purchasing drugs and
surgical items for the state run PHCs and hospitals, elaborated
sources. 

TNMSC has been 'misinterpreting' the state government rules on price
preference for the last few years and the local manufacturers have not
been able to get the benefits so far, petitioners and Pharmaceutical
Manufacturers Association (PMA), Tamil Nadu, had contended in the
court. PMA had been pursuing the case for more than two years in the
High Court and with various authorities. 

As per the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act 1998, and amended by
the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders (Amendement) Act, Rule 29 (f),
'the evaluation and comparison shall include fifteen per cent price
preference for domestic small scale industrial units and ten per cent
price preference for the Public Sector Undertakings of the government
in respect of products and quantities manufactured by them', the
petitioners had said. 

Responding to a PMA petition two months ago, the High Court had
directed the drug manufacturers to approach the TNMSC to get a clear
clarification on the matter and had observed the court could not act on
assumptions of the petitioner. Thereafter the firms filed cases
individually. 

TNMSC, the nodal agency for procuring drugs and surgical items for the
state run PHCs and hospitals in the state, purchases Rs.100 to Rs.130
crores worth of drugs and surgical items annually.





________________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! India Mobile: Download the latest polyphonic ringtones.
Go to http://in.mobile.yahoo.com

Access Essential Drugs Monitor #32 at http://www.who.int/medicines/mon/mon32.shtml

The INDIA-DRUG discussion group is a partnership between SATELLIFE
(www.healthnet.org), WHO Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy
(www.who.ch), and the Delhi Society for the Promotion of the
Rational Use of Drugs (DSPRUD) in India.

To send a message to india-drug, write to: india-drug@healthnet.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: majordomo@healthnet.org
in the body of the message type: subscribe india-drug OR unsubscribe india-drug
To contact a person, send a message to: india-drug-help@healthnet.org