Daily Times

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department has replaced the practice of Medicine Coordination Council with a two-step single-stage technical evaluation and financial evaluation to counter corruption and make purchases of medicines on merit.

Talking to Daily Times, Director Administration Health Directorate Peshawar Dr Tahir Nadeem said that the Medicine Coordination Council (MCC) members were taking three months to make the purchase of medicines for all hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for all national and international companies more transparent.

“Earlier the MCC used to find and purchase only low-cost medicine for the government hospitals but under the new practice the committee will look at the price as well as the quality of the medicines,” Dr Tahir said. He added that in future bids will be placed on technical and financial basis at the pre-qualification stage. “Products by international and local companies will be purchased only if the companies fulfill the requirements of the MCC committee,” he said. The director administration further said that the MCC committee will set rules and regulations for pharmaceutical companies as they must prove their worth by providing assurances about their ISO certification, financially stability, work environment and all other requirements which for selling of their products.

“The medicines made in a company on the MCC list will produce cheaper medicine for consumers. For example, a medicine made with the recommendation of MCC might cost only Rs.30 while that same medicine may cost more than Rs.300 in open market,” Dr Tahir added. The MCC committee will be chaired by the Director General Health while four other members will make up the rest of the body. “Around Rs. 3 billion were allocated for the medicines every year for different district headquarters hospitals,” Dr Tahir informed. He added that every member of the committee would evaluate pharmaceutical companies, with points awarded for quality medication at competitive prices. Dr Tahir Nadeem also said that the revised MCC committee will reduce burden on the national exchequer in purchase of medicine worth billions of rupees. It will also provide good quality medicines to the poor people of the province.