Minister for Health & Medical Education, Bali Bhagat inaugurated one-day workshop on e-procurement, Drug, Vaccine Distribution and Management System (e-Aushadhi) and Commercial Taxes, organized by the Jammu and Kashmir Medical Supplies Corporation Limited (JKMSCL), here today.The objective of organizing the workshop was to sensitize various stakeholders about the role, activities and general functioning of the JKMSCL.Minister of State for Health & Medical Education, Asiea Naqash, Commissioner/Secretary Health & Medical Education, Dr. M.K.Bhandari, Secretary Technical, Health & Medical Education, Dr. Abdul Kabir Dar, Project Director, J&K Aids Control Society & Director Family Welfare, Dr. Sameer Mattoo, Medical Superintendent, AIIMS, Dr. Shakti Kumar Gupta, Managing Director, JKMSCL, Dr Yashpal Sharma, Controller Drugs & Food Control Organization, Lotika Khajuria, Principal GMC, Jammu, Dr. Sunanda Raina, Director Health Services, Jammu, Dr Gurjeet Singh Soodan, experts from outside the State, Chief Medical Officers, Block Medical Officers, Medical Superintendents from across the Jammu division were present on the occasion.Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Bali Bhagat said that it is endeavor of the Government to ensure quality and affordable medicines and other diagnostic facilities to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, for which the JKMSCL has been entrusted a very crucial task of procuring medicines and all necessary gadgets for all the government run hospitals across the State. The mandate of the Corporation is very clear and is solely responsible for meeting the requirements of all the health institutions in the State after necessary tests from the designated laboratories of the country.
The Government has made it mandatory for all the health institutions to purchase all essential drugs, medical equipments, furniture and other allied articles being used in the hospitals through the Corporation for the entire year after putting timely requirements as per the 75 per cent budgetary provisions. The rest 25 per cent budget will be utilized by the concerned institutions for meeting the emergency requirements, including maintenance of assets etc.Lauding the efforts of the Corporation for meeting the maximum requirements of the health institutions within a short span of time, besides securing whooping supply orders from the other departments like, Police, Social Welfare, Education, Universities etc, that is a step towards self-sustenance. He also appreciated the Corporation for some important achievements like procuring 21 Critical Care Ambulances, 100 ambulances with Basic Life Support, 5 Mobile Food Testing Vans, bed sheet for different colors, color coding of all government medicines and earning over Rs. 10 crore as revenue from different sources.The Minister assured necessary support to the Corporation for upgradation/construction of warehouses for storages of supplies and providing adequate manpower to make this important institution more vibrant and at par to other States. He called upon the management to take all necessary steps to ensure complete transparency in the tendering and procurement process with special focus on the quality control. He also called upon all the participants/heads of the institutions to maintain close coordination with the Corporation and put in their timely requirements so that the adequate stock of medicines and other related material is ensured in the hospitals.
Every, head of the institution shall be personally responsible for the timely purchase of medicines and other articles, he asserted.Minister of State in her brief address called for a well-knit mechanism to meet the gap of supply and requirement to ensure availability of adequate stock of medicines in the hospitals. She stressed the need for quality procurement in a transparent manner. She also appreciated the efforts of the Corporation to spread its activities in other departments and securing orders for supply of medicines and other articles, which is a healthy move in the way of becoming self-sufficient.Dr. Mandeep Bhandari said that Government had set up the JKMSCL on the pattern of other States in the country to achieve the objective of systematic procurement of quality medicines and equipments for the patient care. He appreciated the performance of the Corporation, saying that though it is in infancy yet it achieved commendable results. He hoped that the workshop will prove quite useful in hammering out many issues confronted to the institutions and the Corporation and help in improving the system further.Dr Yashpal Sharma briefed about the activities of the Corporation and objective of the workshop. He said the Corporation was established in May, 2013 with a sole objective of procuring drugs, equipments and other items for the Health & Medical Education in a most transparent manner with zero tolerance to quality. The organization actually became functional in 2016-17 after completion of several technicalities, and within a short span of time it reached at a stage where its working can be compared with any other Corporation in the country, he added.
Expressing happiness on achieving self-sufficiency by the Corporation within a short span, the MD said that with the sincere efforts of its functionaries, the Corporation has been able to secure purchase orders worth Rs. 1.29 crore from other organizations, besides meeting the 85 percent requirements of State hospitals. He hoped to generate revenue worth Rs. 10 crore on account of administrative expenses, sale of tenders and registration fee etc. He said that the Corporation has evolved the latest technology of e-procurement, e-Aushadhi and ensured complete on-line system by way of consolidating the supply orders and requisitions by various agencies/institutions. He also highlighted several other achievements made by the Corporation during the short stint despite several odds. Expressing his gratitude to the participants for making the event a success, he maintained that the workshop will prove quite useful in addressing various issues related to the procurements, supplies and further improving and streamlining the functioning of the Corporation. On the occasion, the Ministers released three publications published by the Corporation on the policy, procedures and guideline documents for the smooth, effective, efficient, speedy and functioning of the Corporation.A Mobile App. on e-Aushadhi for the benefits of the hospital administrators was also launched by the Ministers. This will help the concerned authorities to have immediate access to the information regarding stock position, purchase orders, annual demands etc.