'Nothing wrong' in purchase of bloodsugar measuring devices
So far, no irregularities have been found with purchase of portable blood-glucose-measuring devices at several government hospitals across the country, the Department of Health Service Support said yesterday.
Further purchases of the device have also been approved.
Director-general Bunrueng Trairuengworrawat said a precondition on the purchase contracts – whether hospitals would buy these devices with the test strips provided for free or if they would buy the test strips and be given the devices for free – depends on the brand of the device and the price of the strips. He said the government would choose what it considers the most beneficial to the agency in charge.
The Public Health Ministry and the department jointly inspected the purchase process at several government hospitals at the request of rural doctors, who alleged that the condition to purchase test strips opened the door to corruption.
The doctors also questioned whether the median unit price |tendered in bidding was far too high.
The ministry instructed 7,256 government clinics at the sub-district level to buy 81,685 sets of the device at a total cost of Bt147 million. Each device costs Bt1,800.
Bunrueng said health volunteers had been trained to measure patients’ blood for sugar using the device.
The device provides an accurate reading of blood sugar by piercing the patient’s fingertip.
