Star: GEORGE TOWN: The Health Ministry has always practised the open tender process when buying pharmaceutical and medical products, says Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
He said those registered with the Ministry of Finance could go through Pharmaniaga Bhd that had the exclusive rights to distribute pharmaceutical and medical products to the ministry. However, he said that companies which had issues with the matter could write in to the ministry.
Liow said he had always championed for pharmaceutical companies to be more competitive.
The minister was commenting on a statement by B. Braun corporate controlling, finance and information technology vice-president Dieter Gemmer that the company was considering to move part of its operations, specifically pharmaceuticals, from Penang to Indonesia because it did not wish to go through “medical middlemen” to sell its products.
Gemmer had said that all the company wanted was to be allowed to participate in open tenders instead of having to sell their products through a third party.
“If there are specific allegations, the company can raise the matter to me. The ministry will investigate the matter,” Liow told reporters yesterday.
He was at the Penang International Airport yesterday for AirAsia’s debut flight from Singapore.
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