Over 240 Pune hospitals jointly launch Common Procurement Platform

In a first, a group of hospitals and doctors in Pune have come together to establish a Common Procurement Platform (CPP) designed to standardise processes, enhance service quality and reduce treatment costs for patients, officials said.

As many as 240 small- and medium- sized hospitals have joined forces under the banner, Hospital Board of India (HBI) Pune and over 2,000 doctors ranging from physicians to specialised doctors – all members of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Pune Chapter – have collaborated to launch this platform.

The CPP was conceptualised after 180 hospitals in the city recently obtained National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) endorsement. Initially, the consultant quoted around ₹4 to 5 lakh per hospital for NABH compliance. However later after all the hospitals came together, the cost was reduced to ₹30,000 per hospital.

Dr Sanjay Patil, chairman, HBI Pune, said that the CPP will be a win-win situation for both hospitals and patients. “This will bring uniformity in terms of quality and availability of consumables, medicines and medical equipment. Many times, the latest equipment and quality products are not available in the city due to low demand. In such a situation, hospitals and doctors have to depend on scientific medical exhibitions,” Dr Patil said.

Dr Ravindra Chajjed of Harsh Hospital, said, “The CPP will provide a single platform for doctors and hospitals to get medicines and equipment at best rates along with better quality. This will benefit both the hospitals and patients. There will be quality assurance due to bulk purchases and patients will get better services and quality care. The problem of inferior quality medical equipment or medicines will be absolutely eliminated as a company cannot risk its credibility while dealing with such a large number of hospitals and doctors.”

Dr Sunil Ingale of Ingale Hospital, said, “Once the CPP is implemented, small- and medium- sized hospitals will get the benefits that corporate hospitals currently get. Expensive equipment such as MRI, CT scan, dialysis units and ventilators among others can be procured at discounted rates. This is the reason why only corporate hospitals have such facilities and patients suffer. Besides, it will help procure manpower and get various compliances.”

According to the HBI and IMA, the CPP is under development and will be implemented in December this year. It will be used to procure medicines, medical equipment, and consumables, and will later be expanded to include manpower appointments. An app under development for the CPP will also include services such as fire compliance, pollution compliance, and other related services. Hindustan Times