Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd. could soon procure the consumables in cath labs, orthopaedic implants and the reagents for dialysis units in major government hospitals as part of its market interventions to bring down out-of-pocket expenditure in the area of chronic diseases.
“The government is opening 10 cath labs in district hospitals as well as 55 dialysis units in major government hospitals. The KMSCL is in charge of mobilising equipment for setting up these and we now think that we can procure all consumables for cath labs — stents, balloon and guide wires — and costly reagents required in our dialysis units on a regular basis, so that we can bring down the chronic care expenses,” says S.R. Dileep, General Manager, KMSCL.
It plans to hold a consultative workshop involving cardiologists, interventional cardiologists and senior Health officials to decide on a “cardiac package” for Cath labs that the KMSCL can later negotiate with drug firms. “About 60% of the items will have to be generic as we cannot procure on a case-by-case basis. Once we decide on the package, we will negotiate with firms for bulk procurement,” he says.
One challenge the KMSCL anticipates is that it will have to keep a buffer stock of consumables in districts so that hospitals do not fall short of the items suddenly. At present KMSCL has five depots and with more depots in the offing in the next one year, this problem should be resolved, he says.
However, these plans will materialise only if the government provides an operational expense specifically for this initiative, he adds.
