MUMBAI: The delay in implementing the zero prescription policy for the city’s municipal hospitals — originally scheduled for April — has prompted Additional Municipal Commissioner Abhijit Bangar to request additional staff to complete the review process for the tender by September 6. The deadline for issuing a letter of intent (LOI) to the tender winner is September 15, so that Phase 1 of the policy can be implemented by September-end or mid-October.

The policy announced by the BMC in November 2023 proposes to provide free medicines in city hospitals instead of patients having to buy them from outside pharmacies. This will be achieved by expanding the number of drugs, pharmaceuticals and surgical items available in hospitals from 1,000 to 4,000.

“The last date for submitting bids for the Central Purchase Department (CPD) tender was July 24,” said Bangar. “The bids include documents on the technical quality of each item. Sometimes, duplicate documents are asked for if the bidder is not a manufacturer of a drug but is working with a manufacturer. Since the CPD does not have the technical experts, we have formed two teams, one from Nair Hospital and one from the CPD, which include pharmacists, senior pharmacists, data typists and others to do the verification.”

However, this proved to be too time-consuming and hampered the implementation of the directive.

Bangar held a meeting with CPD and public health officials on Friday to find solutions, deciding to recruit additional staff and computers through an agency contracted to expedite the review. “Just because there are a lot of documents, the process cannot take forever,” Bangar said. “Teams are being formed and progress is being reviewed daily.”

A deadline of September 6 has been set to complete the verification of all documents. The BMC will then send a letter of intent to the winner of the tender by September 15, accepting the offer in principle. “It will then take two to four weeks for Phase 1 of the policy to be implemented on the ground, although some drugs may need to be re-tendered,” Bangar said.

In the BMC budget for 2024-25 published in February, the BMC ₹500 crore for the policy, which was to be implemented by April 1. The policy addresses the long-standing artificial shortage of medicines in BMC-run hospitals, which is forcing patients to spend huge sums to purchase medicines. A separate fee structure will be applicable for patients coming from outside Mumbai. HT’s report on May 10, 2023, had highlighted the artificial shortage of medicines in BMC-run hospitals, which in turn is forcing patients to purchase medicines, gloves, saline solution, medical dressings, etc. from outside.

Bangar also gave instructions that the three-year-old tender for MRI machines in city hospitals should be completed soon. “This is the fourth extension of the tender,” he said. “We have received one bid and are waiting for another.”