Minister of Health and Population Dr. Sudha Gautam has said that in the last two years, it has not been possible to buy even the iron needed for pregnant and lactating women.

At the meeting of the Federalism Strengthening and National Concerns Committee held on Monday, she said that the government has not been able to purchase even iron, which is needed by pregnant and lactating women, for the last two years due to problems in the procurement process. Minister Gautam said that the problem has arisen due to complaints from companies that were not able to participate in the tender process in the procurement system. She said that there are also problems when provincial governments purchase medicines on their own. She said that questions arise when the prices of the provincial and federal governments differ during the procurement process. This is what the Health Minister says

There are problems in our procurement in some respects. What is it like, how much of it is deliberate mischief, it is in a small number. What about most, one province bought it for 60 rupees, while here it came for 82 rupees. Why did it come 12 rupees more? When purchasing in different provinces and at the center, if the prices do not match, a company will immediately complain in anger. Because of this, we have not been able to buy even the iron needed by pregnant and lactating women for the past two years.

Therefore, the solution to a problem in such a complex situation is this: Call those within the country and say, “We will buy your medicines, the price and results were given, whether you want to buy them or not.” Separate insurance counters have been set up in various hospitals by the insurance company. We will extract total data—how much of which medicine was purchased. We will determine its exact volume and type.

I also talked to an organization called “APON”, the Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers. When the government asked us how much we could give you when we take a guarantee to buy your medicines, they said we could give you half the MRP price. We will not have to do any marketing strategy including advertising, sales, distribution. They said that this would save us money and the medicines would be cheaper.

First, after determining the volume and type, call the pharmaceutical manufacturer and say: “We need these medicines in this quantity, how much can you give all this for?” Let's list those companies that have competitive prices. Buy from anywhere in Nepal at that listed and fixed price. Then the process becomes easy.