LAHORE, Jan 26: The Punjab health department has declared the existing ‘rate contract’ for the purchase of medicines null and void and finalized a new process to purchase quality medicines for all public sector hospitals in the province.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the existing system of medicine purchase through deputy secretaries, a newly-constituted committee headed by health minister Dr Tahir Ali Javed has decided to separate the technical and purchase committees to ensure selection of quality medicines and transparency in the purchase of medicines.

The committee has decided to constitute seven bodies comprising retired and serving professors to identify three priority drugs in terms of quality without considering their prices.

After the selection of quality medicines, the health department’s technical committee will negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies concerned to finalize rate contract.

The committee constituted by the Punjab chief minister met here on Thursday with health minister Dr Javed in the chair. Punjab health secretary Javed Malik, Services Institute of Medical Sciences/Services Hospital principal Prof Faisal Masood, King Edward Medical University’s Prof Ayaz Mahmood, Director-General Health Services, Punjab, Dr Aslam Chaudhry, the chief drug inspector and two additional secretaries attended the meeting.

When contacted, health minister Dr Javed said the government had taken a drastic decision by revamping the entire system of selecting and purchasing medicines for all public sector hospitals because no body was satisfied with the quality of medicines.

After a long brainstorming, he said, the committee decided to divide the purchase process and do away with the system of purchasing low price medicines according to the purchase manuals. He said the medicines purchased at low prices were so ineffective that they failed to save lives. “Only because of the purchase manuals’ clause of purchasing medicines of lowest rate, the deputy secretaries used to connive with the pharmaceutical companies and purchase simple powder in the name of medicines,” he observed.

Dr Javed said the health department would constitute and notify seven bodies in the disciplines of surgery, anaesthesia, ophthalmology, cardiac surgery, paediatric, orthopaedic and gynaecology by next week. He said each committee would comprise three to five retired and serving professors and asked to recommend three top priority quality medicines from the list of medicines available. He said the committees would be given a deadline till March 15 to select some 300 quality medicines.

The minister also said that relevant laws would be changed to ensure the supply of standardized and quality medicines to the public in government hospitals.

He said the health department was also working to ensure supply of quality drugs at medical stores for the consumption of general public.