The issue of delay in payment for medical supplies and withholding of security deposits, paid by companies, to participate in a tender process, has riled medical suppliers in the State.
It is estimated that around ₹300 crore bills are due for payment after the vendors supplied drugs through Karnataka State Medical Supplies Company Ltd., which procures drugs for State government medical facilities and also under National Health Mission (NHM).
Sources said that average annual procurement under NHM was about ₹1,200 crore.
“Since the security deposit is not released even to those who do not qualify in the tender process, some small vendors have stopped participating in the tender process, and those who have still participated have seen their security deposit stuck. Currently, with security deposit being high, many are shying away,” a vendor told The Hindu.
One of the reminder letters to the State government on pending dues from the KSMSCL by a company, reminded the government that it is suffering hardship due to the non-payment since it is a MSME.
Issue flagged
A couple of vendors said that the issues with the government procurement of medical supplies, including non-payment of bills and security deposit, have been flagged through letters to Health Minister K. Sudhakar and also to the Chairman of Public Accounts Committee Krishna Byre Gowda.
When enquired about the vendors’ issues, a senior Health Department official said that about ₹300 crore was pending as dues for the procurement done for NHM, and that the delay was due to procedures involved in clearing the bill. The official also acknowledged that a small number of them had budgetary issues too.
Regarding the return of security deposits to the vendor, an official said that efforts are being made to clear all of them in the next few weeks.
“The security deposits are made on the e-portal for the last two years. There are issues in about 15 security deposits that were done during the manual tendering process done between 2013 and 2016. These are pending due to disputes and a report has been sought.”
