NEW DELHI: In a clear abuse of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s austerity drive and his advocacy on adherence to rules while dealing with public money, the country’s Central Procurement Agency (CPA) — Central Medical Services society (CMSS) — set up to streamline the procurement process, tweaking the procurement specifications in a tender for procuring condoms and drugs, which will eventually result in substandard and poor quality products, endangering public health.
Getting a whiff of the scandal, the health ministry is now expected to look into the entire tendering process worth Rs 300 crores for procurement of 750 million pieces of condoms and crucial drugs. The CMSS, however denies any allegations of wrongdoing.
With an aim to maintain quality, the government had earlier put in certain specifications so that established and experienced players could participate in the bidding. While Union health ministry rules encouraged participation of “primary manufacturers,” the change in rules by CMSS will give rise to participation of even small-time agents. Moreover, the changes have been made without the approval of the technical specifications committee comprising doctors and eminent health experts.
“Just about anyone manufacturing condoms has participated in the bidding. The public procurement should be done exercising a lot of caution, it means not only getting low prices, but also ensuring quality. This raises a question mark about the professional ability and endurance to public procurement procedures in dealing with exchequer money by the newly appointed CPA of ministry of health. The entire essence of maintaining quality of products is lost by this decision,” sources revealed.
