The cost of heart surgeries in Government Hospitals of Punjab is expected to increase as much as 100 percent because of what the sources said “ill-conceived” policy of the Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Department, Government of Punjab.
A major health crisis is looming large for the country’s most populous province where the provincial health department has barred the CE Marked European and Chinese companies from supplying consumables and disposables that are used in heart procedures and surgeries to the state-run hospitals.
The provincial authorities have made it conditional that only those suppliers would be eligible for participation in the government’s recent centralized tendering process for the procurement of cardio equipment like stents, balloons, wires, etc. which would have the certification of FDA.
The FDA condition will throw a majority of the suppliers from Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Belgium and China out of the competitive process and give a handful of American brands a monopoly over the official procurement process.
Pakistan has about 30 to 35 companies that are registered with the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) and authorized to supply stents, balloons, and other supplies for cardio surgeries and procedures. Out of these only four companies fall into the FDA-approved category.
Recently, the Punjab government floated a tender worth about Rs 20 billion to procure 81 products in which the majority of high-value products, it said, should be on the FDA list.
Ironically, of the total only six to seven products valuing approx. Rs 15 billion have been included in the FDA-only list while all others with a significantly lower value have been left for the European and Chinese companies to compete.
The companies that stand disqualified from the bidding process are duly registered with and approved by the DRAP and have been catering to cardiovascular hospitals in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan provinces as well as to all major private hospitals of the country for decades.
“The FDA condition means only four American companies will be able to qualify for and get contracts for medical supplies,” the sources said.
One of the suppliers said that due to this ill-conceived decision of the Punjab Health Department, the Punjab Government will hardly be able to cater to 50% of heart procedures at its cardio hospitals across the province. The FDA-approved consumables and disposables that are used in heart-related procedures are almost double the prices compared to their European and chinses competitors.
“If a stent of DRAP-registered European or Chinese brand sells for Rs. 35,000 the FDA-approved product will cost the poor patients 100% more,” the sources said.
For example, the price of the brand Balloon Catheter, which is used in angioplasty, ranges from Rs. 14,500 to Rs. 17,000. While the same CE Marked DRAP-registered products can be bought at Rs. 10,000 at maximum.
Only this one product can eat up an additional Rs 400 million out of the provincial coffers. The prices of other costly products like guide wire and stents can go much beyond this.
This price hike is bound to reflect on the province’s health budget too as expensive procurement from the few American companies will cost the government more and will also reduce the number of patients catered at government-run hospitals in Punjab.
“While DRAP has registered all the products the provincial government looks keen to support the few chosen brands only that show some malicious intentions on the part of vested interests,” they added.
A senior heart professor said that such “ill-conceived” decisions are taken by people in govt offices which later weigh heavily on the Government, referring to a recent wheat procurement scandal that resulted in billions of rupees of loss for Pakistani farmers.
A decision that will increase the budget 100% and will also bring down the number of angiography and angioplasty surgeries in the Punjab province to half, will not go too well with the policy of Maryam Nawaz administration, the source said.
They said that the provincial government was putting to waste the taxpayers’ money by limiting the award of its contracts to costly four American firms while healthy competition from other stakeholders namely the suppliers from Europe and China could keep the prices of surgical supplies in check.
“The poor patients in Punjab are being left at the mercy of two or three big brands that would charge exorbitant prices without any competition and governmental check,” the sources deplored.
Trends like these in the government circles stifle innovation and bringing of new medical technologies to improve healthcare facilities for the masses, they added.
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