As the Medical Supplies Division is without any stocks of lenses, resorting to emergency purchases will incur a monthly loss of Rs. 200 million, warns the union of health professionals.
Hospitals presently have only the lenses already supplied by the MSD or received as donations to meet a demand of around 15,000 lenses per month.
The short-supply is the result of the suspension of a tender found to have procedural shortcomings, with an investigation now underway.
Head of the TU Ravi Kumudesh alleged the Health Ministry was now in the habit of canceling tenders in order to commit malpractices, mainly in the form of emergency purchases.
Purchases under normal circumstances cost between Rs. 8,000 and Rs. 9,500 per lens, but emergency purchases will see the prices go up to between Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 30,000, he said.
