Friday 20 September 2013

RM3bil in supply contracts

The Health Ministry is expected to pay more than RM3bil in the form of contracts for the supply of medicinal products and equipment.

This will take effect after six months, which is the timeframe required to examine all products submitted by the vendors in the tender process, said Pharmaniaga Bhd.

Yesterday marked the end of a two-day tender exercise held at the premises of Pharmaniaga Bhd here.

Pharmaniaga is a concessionaire appointed by the ministry to procure and distribute both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical products.

Its managing director Datuk Farshila Emran said the tender process was held in a transparent manner and monitored by officials from the ministry, an auditing firm and the chief integrity officer from its parent company, Boustead Group.

She said the 172 vendors were briefed on the process before they submitted their quotations.

“When we had our previous tender exercise, about RM1bil in the form of contracts were awarded to vendors.

“This time, we are expecting the amount to be more than RM3bil.”

She said the tender exercise was not an easy task as perceived by others since ministry officials would need to thoroughly vet the products.

“They will have to scrutinise each and every product because a wrong pick of a medicine can be detrimental to some 27 million Malaysians,” she added.

Farshila also denied allegations that Pharmaniaga had reaped huge profits from distributing medicine to the ministry.

She noted that although the company facilitated tender exercises once every three years, it did not determine which vendor received the contract as the ministry made the decision.

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