Procurement & Distribution of Medicines

Government has set up a society in the name of Central Medical Services (CMSS) on 22nd March, 2012, under Societies Registration Act, 1860. The objective of this Society is to function as an independent, professional and autonomous agency for procurement of quality health sector goods and services required by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in a transparent and fair manner and make the goods available at convenient locations for the benefit of the users by addressing efficiently the supply chain issues.

Following major deficiencies have been identified in the current system of procurement of health sector goods:

(i) Absence of IT enabled supply chain management.

(ii) Inadequate supply chain infrastructure.

(iii) Manual collection of data and absence of any credible Management Information System (MIS) for proper stocking and inventory management.

(iv) Delays in estimation of quantities and in settlement of tenders leading to delayed supplies.

CMSS will improve distribution of drugs and prevent leakages and red-tapism by introducing the following:

(i) IT enabled transparent and competitive systems for procurement so that goods are procured at competitive rates.

(ii) An efficient supply chain to prevent leakages.

(iii) An MIS to prevent stock outs and excess inventory and also to reduce wastage.

(iv) Society shall function as an independent, professional and autonomous agency.

This information was given by Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today on 30.11.12