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• Delamanid (Dlm) is  a second line anti TB drug for Drug Resistant (DR) TB patients, supplied in the form of strips containing 8 tablets having dosage strength of 50mg with 60 months of shelf life. According to National TB Elimination Program (NTEP) guidelines, total 84 strips of Dlm tablets (672 tablets) are required to complete a full course for a patient (i.e, 100mg BD daily dosage) for 6 months of Intensive Phase (IP).

Bedaquiline (Bdq) is a group A second line drug supplied as a jar containing 188 tablets having dosage strength of 100mg with 24 months of shelf life. The jar contains the dosages for entire 6 month of treatment duration.

Flow of Bedaquiline (Bdq) drug in NTEP

Drug-Susceptible Tuberculosis (DS-TB) drugs are available as Fixed Dose Combination. The treatment duration is generally 6-8 months. Weight-band-wise monthly strips are issued to the patient.

There is a significant difference between the flow of DS-TB drugs and Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (DR-TB) drugs under the National TB Elimination Program (NTEP).  The process of DS-TB drug flow in NTEP is explained below:

A tender is an invitation to bid for a project or accept a formal offer.

Direct purchase enables a buyer to buy services of value up to Rs. 25,000, which meets the requisite quality, specifications and delivery period without comparison(except automobiles), through any of the available sellers on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal.

Steps include:

 1.Login to the GeM portal as a buyer

2. Click on Market--> Services

Depending upon the total value of procurement, the GeM platform provides three primary buying modes:

GeM stands for Government e-Market Place. It is the digital eCommerce portal for the procurement and selling of goods and services by the Government of India.

Fig 1: Logo of GeM

Source:https://gem.gov.in

Policymakers crafting a sound procurement system must balance a number of goals - transparency, competition and integrity are the most important. If a government’s procurement system reflects all three elements, the system is much more likely to achieve the best value in procurement and maintain political legitimacy.