Suppliers of pharmaceutical drugs in the national capital claimed that they have not received the payment for medicines worth Rs 90 crore from the Delhi government’s Central Procurement Agency (CPA) — responsible for supplying medicines to state hospitals — for over six months.
According to the manufacturers and suppliers, they have been supplying pharmaceutical drugs to Delhi government hospitals, CDMO (contract development and manufacturing organisation) stores, and consignees — designated by the CPA — on orders placed against rate contracts approved in their favour, and despite this, they have not received payment for months.
The suppliers’ association, meanwhile, wrote a letter to the CPA, highlighting the concerns. “During these six months, orders worth over Rs 90 crore were placed twice — on 27/09/2023 and 12/12/2023. The supplies were completed, and bills submitted to the goods office, however, no payment has yet been made.
Another round of orders was placed on 15/03/2024, on the running rate contracts,” read the letter, adding that due to this, the last order — created on March 15 — has not yet been delivered.
According to the letter, the non-payment of the bills has put the suppliers in great distress, who are left with no funds to cater to new orders now. Further delay in payment would cause irreparable financial damages, claimed the suppliers.
According to an official CPA source, payments worth Rs 80-90 crore are still pending. “Nearly Rs 84 crore of CPA budget has lapsed, and the suppliers have not been paid yet. Non-payment has its spiraling effect, and supply of medicines (to public healthcare facilities) will be affected further,” said the official.
Despite several attempts, Director General Health Services (DGHS) Director Dr Vandana Bagga was not unavailable for comment.
Meanwhile, an official statement from the Delhi government stated: “The Health Minister has persistently been writing and communicating to the Chief Secretary as well as the Secretary (Health) for the past two months, regarding the “severe shortage” of essential medicines and medical consumables at hospitals, however, the latter have maintained that there was “no scarcity of the products/ items”. Even during the Legislative Assembly discussion in April, many MLAs contradicted the Chief Secretary’s claims.
“The Health Minister has taken all requisite steps, including writing directly to the Delhi L-G (V K Saxena), to immediately alert him that the Chief Secretary and the Secretary (Health) have deliberately been plunging Delhi towards a catastrophic ‘man-made’ health crisis. This event — the legitimate payment to medicine suppliers being not made by the officers concerned — unequivocally proves that the Chief Secretary and the Secretary (Health) have been conspiring, and actively colluding to orchestrate a ‘man-made’ health crisis in Delhi,” read the Delhi government statement.
The move came after a report that an eight-year-old boy, with a broken arm, was allegedly turned away by Dr Hedgewar Aarogya Sansthan and Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya on April 1, while stating that they “did not have cotton as well as no orthopedic doctor was available to treat him” at the moment.
This triggered a back-and-forth war of words between the L-G and Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj.
While the L-G wanted to hold a meeting with the Health Minister, Bharadwaj invited him to visit a few Delhi government hospitals, stating that the majority of patients there are from BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.