The State government is contemplating moving to a system of centralised and standard purchase process for cardiac cath lab consumables for all cath labs in the State’s public health sector by purchasing these consumables directly from medical devices firms through the Kerala State Medical Services Corporation (KMSC).
At a high-level meeting convened by Health Minister Veena George on Wednesday, it was decided that a uniform and standard procurement process for cardiac consumables was required so that the distributors are not allowed to hold the government to ransom on a regular basis, threatening to disrupt the cardiac procedures in public sector hospitals by stopping the supply of cardiac consumables.
The government has asked the KMSC to draw up and submit the tender documents for the same within a week.
The Director of Medical Education (DME), superintendents of all government medical colleges, and the district/general hospitals with cath labs under the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) have been asked to provide all details regarding the average requirement of cardiac consumables in each institution, the procedures usually done and the present procurement policies so that the KMSC can clearly assess the State’s requirement before entering into discussion with medical devices firms.
