Representatives of the Ministry of Health assure that the process of supplying the national medical institutions with medicines was resumed. “As a result of the direct discussions we had with importers and suppliers of drugs, the missing medicines started to be delivered. The problem of consumables, namely syringes, gauze and solutions for transfusion, is yet to be solved. In the nearest future, we will deal with this problem too,” acting Deputy Minister of Health Mihai Ciocanu told the journalists after debates held within the specialized parliamentary commission, IPN reports.
A new tender contest to purchase consumables will be held in the middle of February. To avoid similar situations in the future, the Ministry of Health suggested amending the normative framework concerning the holding of public tender contests. “We want to make this process simpler and faster so that the medical institutions can react in crisis situations,” he stated.
The official added that if the economic entities selected to supply medicines do not fulfill the contractual obligations assumed within public tender contests, they risk being banned from taking part in tenders for a period of three years. In 2014, such bans were imposed on three importers of drugs.
Mihai Ciocanu noted that no supplier will be penalized for the January situation, when a number of hospitals remained without drugs, as this will cause much more serious damage to the medical institutions. “If we penalize them now, we will have to rerun all the public tender contests held until now and the hospitals will not be supplied with medicines during six months,” he explained.
The officials called on the patients of hospitals not to purchase medicines themselves, if only in emergencies, because the process of the medical institutions paying back the money based on sales slips issued by drugstores is difficult and long-lasting.
A number of national hospitals remained without medicines at the beginning of this year following the depreciation of the leu, which caused a difference to appear between the import price of drugs and the price set in the contracts signed with the suppliers. Thus, those who won tender contests could no longer honor their obligations. This resulted in a delay in the supply of hospitals with the necessary medicines and consumables. The situation was remedied after the Ministry of Health issued an order to review the prices of drugs.
