translated from Spanish: Government launches call for distribution of medicines

After the signals that the federal government did not have the infrastructure or the capacity to handle the distribution of drugs throughout the national territory, the authorities announced that they would always leave that task to companies Specialized. 
This 27 June, the competition for the comprehensive service of logistics storage and distribution of medicines, healing material, radiological and laboratory material sorises was published on Compranet. Proposals will be received until July 2. 
Federal authorities had said that the government would be responsible for the distribution of the medicines, after the consolidated purchase, the tender of which will be made on June 28. 
Read: Government receives 287 offers for the purchase of medicines; there are doubts about delivery times
Until November, it was the distributors who bought the medicines and paid for them from the laboratories, in a kind of financing to the public sector. Months later (three, six, nine) they charged the government with bills, including distribution. 
Hugo López-Gatell, Undersecretary of Health Planning and Promotion, of the Ministry of Health, said, at a press conference, that “it is generally considered a 5 to 7% overprice on distribution services, in this case it would become 30 or 35%”. 
That is why it was decided to eliminate them as intermediaries, now IMSS would be responsible for the distribution of medicines and health supplies. 
Health logistics advisors, pharmaceutical industry members and specialists expressed concern about the change in scheme, arguing that, as published by Animal Político on 31 May, the IMSS does not have the infrastructure, the specialized transport, nor the budget to distribute drugs across the country. 
Lee: Company of super-delegate Carlos Lomelí participates in tender to sell medicines to the government
On Monday, June 24, the senior Treasury officer announced that the plan had changed, and that a competition would be launched to elect the companies that will be in charge of the distribution of the drugs during the second half of the year. 
The basis for the call was made public on 27 June. It is noted that the procurement will take place in seven (7) headings/regions: 
 Item 1. North: Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Durango, Querétaro, Zacatecas and Guanajuato 
Item 2. Pacific: Baja California, Baja California Sur, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Sonora 
Item 3. Gulf: Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Tamaulipas and Veracruz Norte 
Item 4. Center: Colima, State of Mexico, Jalisco, Michoacán 
Item 5. Southeast: Quintana Roo, Puebla, Tabasco, Tlaxcala, Yucatan, Veracruz Sur, Campeche 
Item 6. South: Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Morelos
Item 7. CDMX: Mexico City 
Each heading consists of two subheadings: cold network / dry net and healing material. Participants may be quoted for a full item or by subheading.
Read: Drug tender process continues between delays, doubts and complaints
The participant must have a warehouse that complies with the corresponding health authorizations and licenses; as well as applicable legal, regulatory and regulatory requirements. From this warehouse the necessary tasks will be carried out for the planning, receipt, distribution and delivery of the goods to each and every one of the delivery points. 
The warehouse will have to be located in Mexico City or a metropolitan area and must have an exclusive space for the storage and processing of the goods, which meets the levels of inventory service. 
As the regulation marks in the field, the call states that the participant must ensure that the facilities are designed to be safe, structurally firm, easy to clean, and with sufficient capacity to allow storage and safe management of medicines.
Read: Health and Finance delay again the bidding process for the consolidated purchase of medicines
The invitation also contains various requirements regarding the cold network to ensure the quality of products and compliance with various standards governing the storage and distribution of health supplies. 
This Friday, the failure of the tender for the consolidated purchase of medicines in the second half of 2019 is expected to fail. Raquel Buenrostro, senior officer of the Ministry of Finance, noted on Monday that both processes, purchase and distribution, had separated to avoid monopolies and generate savings, but that the two would synchronize so as not to generate deabate. 
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Original source in Spanish