Although López Obrador’s government launched a crusade against the big companies that sell drugs under the shadow of alleged corruption from the start, this government’s alternatives of buying millions of drugs without intermediaries are also yielding no results. Postponed or canceled tenders, private negotiations and direct awards were a constant. Companies like state oil company Pemex, the Secretary of Defense (Sedena) and the Mexican state government eventually bought their drugs separately, and as of this year the federal government has allowed wholesalers back to participate in bids for drugs and cures. Meanwhile, patients in public health centers have to wait for medicines due to temporary shortages.
The most recent sample button, the year’s first mega-drug purchase, whose decision was set for last Friday, has been postponed to this week after proposals for the 639 codes to be written also needed in-depth analysis, as did repeated complaints from pharmacists that the Compranet page through which they would participate had technical errors.
In this international tender, the government intends to purchase the medicines and healing parts that will be used by nine central government units over the next two years. Among the buyers are the Institute for Health for Wellbeing (Insabi), the Mexican Institute for Social Security (IMSS); the Institute for Safety and Social Services for Government Employees (ISSSTE); the Secretariats of the Navy, National Defense and Health; the National Guard, High Specialty Hospitals, among others. According to the Proposal Opening Act, 173 companies wishing to apply as suppliers participated. The tender, which includes the purchase of a minimum of 280 million units and a maximum of 700 million units, ranges from generic drugs such as paracetamol and nicotine patches to surgical supplies.
In the trenches, in the hospitals, the medical staff are still waiting for supplies to be able to care for the sick. “Generally speaking, there is a shortage of medicines and this is further prolonging patients’ hospital stays. It’s no secret to anyone that the public health system is overwhelmed with patients, sometimes lacking in analgesics and broad-spectrum antibiotics or insulins,” says a health worker, who prefers not to give his name to avoid reprisals. The nurse with more than a decade of experience in a public hospital in the state of Mexico, said that while the shortage of medicines has been a latent problem since the last government, it has now worsened with the pandemic , which a hospital must have, has a shortage of 8 to 20%.
For as long as this government has existed, one of its main struggles has been the fight against suspected acts of corruption in the purchase of medicines. In 2019, the executive vetoed a dozen pharmaceutical marketers because, according to the federal administration, they took over the majority of the business and later implemented their own logistics concept for the purchase and distribution of medicines. He used the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) for the purchase, while the creation of a state-owned company by Biological and Reactive Laboratories of Mexico (Birmex) was announced for drug distribution.
However, last October the government prematurely terminated the contract with UNOPS, although the original agreement expired in 2024, and it was also announced that Insabi would deliver the medicines directly to hospitals without going through hospitals to speed up times. “We are working to improve distribution so that they reach the patient. We need medicines that don’t stay in storage and in the hands of those who don’t need them,” explained Insabi General Manager Juan Antonio Ferrer at the time.
Now the pharmaceutical union is celebrating that the latest tenders again take marketers into account. Juan de Villafranca, executive president of the Mexican Association of Pharmaceutical Laboratories (Amelaf), pointed out that the move to include distributors gives them more security. “We are optimistic, we want a transparent tender and as many keys as possible. Now at least there is a dialogue and we feel like this bidding is done much better, much more effectively. In the past UNOPS tenders covered more than the shortage and covered 30% of the demand and it was a model that didn’t work in Mexico and this model that Insabi is doing is much better, it’s more transparent and it helps to cover the shortage.” , indicates.
In the past year there have been repeated complaints about shortages of cancer drugs, antiretroviral drugs for patients with HIV or other drugs such as ketorolac, injectable diclofenac, ampicillin or captopril. Even in the last term of his government, the President must ensure the supply of medicines in all parts of the country. Although Insabi is showing results with an investment of more than 100,000 million pesos to ensure drug supply and the pharmaceutical sector is optimistic about recent federal actions, it will be patients who will verify whether their treatments are a reality or promise more
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