Minister for Health & Medical Education, Bali Bhagat, has called for further streamlining the process of procurement of medicines and other diagnostic equipments with added accountability and transparency to cater to the requirements of the health institutions across the State.Chairing a high-level meeting of officers here today, the Minister issued specific instructions to the management of the J&K Medical Supplies Corporation Ltd (JKMSCL) to put in place a well-knit mechanism for rigorous testing of all the procured medicines from the leading laboratories of the country before being supplied to the health institutions. He also called for a close synergy between the JKMSCL, Drugs & Food Control Organization (D&FCO) and other agencies to strictly monitor the quality of medicines procured from various companies.The Minister also reiterated the commitment of the Government to strengthen the JKMSCL as per its capacity to achieve the objective of an independent institution to meet the requirements of entire health department for procuring the medicines and diagnostic gadgets. He said that Government has already decided to procure all medicines and diagnostic equipments through the Corporation for the health institutions under a foolproof mechanism. He also called upon all the heads of departments, institutions to put in their requirements to the Corporation well in time so that it is able to procure the same and undertake necessary testing before the supply. He said that no hospital is authorized to purchase medicines locally unless it obtains the NOC from the Corporation and cites the valid reason for doing so.
The issues relating to the procurement of Critical Care Ambulances and Ambulances for running the 102 service in the State were also figured prominently.The Minister directed for early completion of necessary formalities for procuring these ambulances so that these are put to use as per the requirements already worked out.Pertinently, the Health & Medical Education Department has already purchased 136 ambulances with Basic Life Support to run the 102 Ambulance Service besides process for procurement of 21 Critical Care Ambulances has also been completed. As many as, 450 ambulances with Advance Life Support/Basic Life Support shall be networked through a Control Room for making the Ambulance service available at the doorstep of the patient in a time bound manner. For this purpose, 300 ambulances are already running under Janani Shishu Surksha Karikaram (JSSK).Commissioner/Secretary Health & Medical Education, Dr. Mandeep K. Bhandari, Managing Director, J&K Medical Supplies Corporation Ltd (JKMSCL), Dr. Yashpal Sharma, Mission Director, NHM, Dr. Mohan Singh, Director Health Services, Jammu, Controller Drugs & Food Control Organization (D&FCO), Ms. Lotika Khajuria, Dr. Gurjeet Singh Soodan, Additional Secretary Health, K.S. Chib, Joint Director Planning, Madan Lal were present in the meeting.