The Social Security Institute (IPS) has decided to cancel bidding processes that include items already removed from its official list of authorized medicines and supplies. The measure was announced after the manager of the institution's Supply and Logistics Department, Cecilia Rodríguez, confirmed the removal of 23 items from the official medicines and supplies list — 12 vaccines and 11 medications.
Among the excluded items, four were included in ongoing bidding processes: Cyclobenzaprine 10mg, mebendazole + thiabendazole, and polymyxin + neomycin ointment, all part of National Public Bidding (LPN) 11/26, and haloperidol decanoate, whose LPN 110/25 bidding had been declared unsuccessful. "The three medications in LPN 11, we are going to cancel," Rodríguez stated. The bidding in question was for the purchase of 44 general-use medications for G. 63.1 billion.
The removal of the 23 items is part of a broader review that resulted in the elimination of 916 products from the institution's basic supplies list. Among the eliminated items are 38 from cardiac surgery, 30 from vascular surgery, 44 from laboratory supplies, and 37 from traumatology, out of a total of 4,800 products that made up the official list.
The audit that prompted the review was driven by IPS President Dr. Isaías Fretes, after identifying that drugs with no demand continued to be purchased while others in high need remained in short supply. According to Fretes, the measure will allow the institution to save resources and combat one of the main sources of corruption, as well as speed up the purchase of high-turnover medications.
During the session of the IPS Board of Directors, the possibility of moving forward with a joint effort with the Ministry of Public Health to create a unified national list of authorized medicines and supplies was also discussed. The proposal aims to bring greater transparency to the procurement of high-value medications and supplies, such as monoclonal antibodies and oncology drugs, enabling larger-volume purchases at more advantageous prices and reducing the possibility of legal challenges.