Health Ministry requests GeM to further expand range of products, services

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : The six-week long National Mission Series concluded with a workshop on Health on GeM in New Delhi on October 16, 2018. The workshop organized by Government eMarketplace (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 range of products and services to cater to a larger set of buyers. She said that GeM is a 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.

She said that 400 products have been identified which are commonly consumed and the list has 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, according to a PIB release.

Secretary, Commerce, Dr Anup Wadhawan, said that procurement has been a very critical and sensitive subject in the 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 15,000 transactions for healthcare products which is about Rs 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.