Ministry of Commerce & Industry

Posted On: 17 OCT 2018 1:06PM by PIB Delhi

The six-week long National Mission Series concluded with a workshop on Health on GeM in New Delhi yesterday. The workshop organized by Government e-Marketplace (GeM), in partnership with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was aimed to sensitise potential vendors, suppliers and buyers from various parts of the country and different government agencies on the proven benefits of GeM and encourage them to procure more using this platform.

Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Preeti Sudan, in her inaugural address, urged GeM to further expand their products and services to cater to a larger set of buyers. She said that GeM isa platform where government has matched technology with transparency and the need for procurement from the government’s point of view along with all the stakeholders in the business. Shesaid that 400 products have been identified which are commonly consumed and the listhas been given to Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to set out standards for them, so that there is no scope for discretion and buyers and suppliers know what they have to adhere to it.

Secretary, Commerce, Dr. Anup Wadhawan, said that procurement has been a very critical and sensitive subject in Government, notwithstanding the volume of rules, regulations, procedures, cross checks, safeguards and the various precautions taken by government officials. He said that GeM offers the way forward to overcome all these pitfalls and it is a transparent platform with the possibility of procurement with some accountability for both vendor and procurer.

Speaking on the occasion, CEO, GeM, Radha Chauhan, said that it is a great opportunity for GeM to have such a platform to openly interface, interact and deliberate on health. Presently, GeM records close to 15000 transactions for healthcare products which is about ₹ 220 crore worth of business and there is a tremendous scope for this business to flourish through GeM over the next few months.

Two panel discussions were held during the workshop. The first panel discussion focused on the challenges in transforming procurement of medical equipment, medical devices and drugs through GeM. The second panel discussed issues from sellers' perspective on how GeM can be a game changer in making the public procurement in the heath sector open, inclusive and efficient.

The workshop endorsed the transformation brought in by GeM in making the procurement of medical equipment, medical devices and drugs, more transparent, efficient and economical for government and manufactures. The participants also resolved to work together in ensuring that the benefits of the open transparent online market place is maximised in providing affordable health care to the people of the country.

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MM/SB

Public procurement transparency promotes open, accountable health sector purchasing through centralized e marketplaces and product standardisation incentives. A workshop promoted expanded use of the Government e Marketplace for health procurement, urging broader product coverage and submission of a list of commonly consumed health products to the Bureau of Indian Standards for specification-setting to limit discretion. GeM was presented as a technology-enabled transparent mechanism to increase accountability of vendors and procurers and to address procurement pitfalls, and panels endorsed GeM's role in making procurement of medical equipment, devices and drugs more transparent, efficient and economical while resolving to maximise its benefits.