Mumbai: The BMC is facing such a financial crisis this year that it is in no position to buy branded medicines for civic hospitals in the city.

 

According to the administration, the BMC needs an additional Rs100 crore a year if it is to buy branded medicines. Therefore, it wants to buy unbranded medicines.

 

The BMC has proposed to buy 98 different classes of medicines for civic hospitals. Only two of the 18 suppliers who have been short-listed, however, are companies of repute. The rest are manufacturers of unbranded medicines, though they are all registered under the Food and Drug Administration’s rules and adhere to the FDA’s norms.

 

The administration prepared the list of medicines and tabled the proposal before the standing committee for approval. But onWednesday, the panel refused to buy generic medicines for civic hospitals. All the members of the committee said civic hospitals must use branded medicines.

 

Sunil Prabhu, Shiv Sena leader in the BMC, had raised the issue at the last meeting and refused to allow such a practice in BMC hospitals. When the same proposal came up for discussion on Wednesday, all members of the standing committee demanded branded medicines.

 

“The companies should be reputed,” BJP corporator Yogesh Sagar said. “Awarding the contract to any small-time distributor to save money is like risking the lives of citizens.”

 

Sagar said corporators had been making this demand for three years, but the administration had done nothing. “It shows the administration’s careless attitude towardsthe common man’s life,” he said.

 

“Most of the time, civic hospitals are not equipped with medicines and poor patients have to buy them from private chemists,” said Sameer Desai of the Congress, who raised the demand for branded medicines. “Every year the BMC allocates a huge amount for medicines. Where does the money go?”

 

Municipal commissioner Swadhin Kshatriya explained that buying branded medicines would raise the cost by Rs100 croreand the BMC could not afford it this year.

 

Additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar requested the committee to keep the supply of certain important drugs uninterrupted. “The committeeshould let the administration buy these,” she said. But the committee did not relent.

 

URL: http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_bmc-aims-to-save-rs100crore-by-buying-generic-medicines_1357823