Ángeles Cruz Martínez
La Jornada Newspaper
Monday, December 16, 2024, p. 7
The 26 public health institutions that participate in the consolidated purchase of medicines plan to invest in 2025 and 2026, a maximum of 152 thousand 43 million pesos. The contracts will establish minimum and maximum purchase volumes and the tender that was published last Friday establishes that potential suppliers will enter the subsequent discount offer system (reverse auction).
With this mechanism, the aim is to obtain the lowest possible price for medicines, since competition is provoked between the participating pharmaceutical laboratories. Although some of these have warned that they will not be able to compete if the authorities seek quotes even below production costs, as has been the case in previous purchasing procedures.
The open international electronic public tender in progress, number LA-12-NEF-012NEF001-II-2025 for the purchase of medicines, therapeutic goods, healing materials and diagnostic aids, received until yesterday, questions from laboratories, owners of the health records of the supplies, which will be answered today at the clarification meeting.
Of the 3,900 keys requested by the institutions, 1,358 correspond to medications and 2,540 to medical devices, for a total investment for the next two years of 234,047 million pesos.
Regarding medicines, an analysis by the Pharmaceutical Institute of Mexico (Inefam) indicates that half of the institutions’ investment will be allocated to the acquisition of anti-cancer products (20 percent); diabetes, hypertension and other metabolic conditions (13); infectious and parasitic diseases (10); cardiology (6); nephrology and urology (5.2 percent).
The Ministry of Health (Ssa), through the Undersecretary of Development and Integration of the Sector, was in charge of the design of the tender, which will be executed by Biological and Reagent Laboratories of Mexico (Birmex). The Ministry of Public Administration participates in the entire process and the civil association Citizen Comptroller’s Office was designated as a social witness for accountability.
Among the new features of the consolidated purchase is that there will be 346 delivery points for the products, which are distributed in the 32 states with at least two warehouses in each one. Those that will have the highest number are Mexico City, 53; Mexico state, 32; Puebla, 24; Veracruz, 19; Tamaulipas, 16 and Chiapas, 15.
