KATHMANDU, August 19: The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) directed Bir Hospital on Thursday to cancel a procurement tender already awarded to Biomed International Pvt Ltd.
Following complaints filed against the Bir tender at OPMCM and the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority, OPMCM decided to cancel the bidding process, citing legitimacy issues, according to sources.
Bir Hospital, which is under the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS), was accused of accepting higher bids in some of the bidding cases.
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The biggest and oldest hospital of the country was accused of tailoring all the tender specifications to suit Biomed International, which is owned by Umesh Agrawal.
Bids for two units of Intra-operative CT machines with high-end navigation systems were awarded to Biomed International for Rs 409.08 million (actual price Rs 320 million) about two months ago. The machines are meant for Bir and its Trauma Center
Himalayan Medi Tech had submitted a bid to supply Neurologica’s BODYTOM machines for about 319 million (two units). Even though this bid is Rs 90 million less than Biomed International’s, NAMS rejected it for technical reasons. The hospital team had floated technical specifications matching 100 percent with the version supplied by Biomed International.
Dr Bhupendra Basnet, director of Bir Hospital, said he was unaware of this. However, he added, “The vice chancellor knows well about it as NAMS deals with all the bidding processes.”
NAMS Vice Chancellor Prof Ganesh Man Gurung was repeatedly approached on the phone, but he did not return the call.
