Rural doctors slam GPO for buying test kits at double the price
In a Facebook post on Sunday, the Rural Doctors Society announced that the Lepu antigen test kits bought by Thailand were being sold for less than a dollar on Alibaba.
The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have put in an order for 8.5 million kits with Ostland Capital. Each kit is priced at 70 baht, and Rural Doctors said the price should have been negotiated to less than a dollar (33.32 baht) considering the size of the order.
Two days ago, Rural Doctors also questioned the authorities’ decision to buy Lepu antigen test kits, considering their quality and precision are questionable.
The doctors asked GPO why it did not buy the kits directly from Alibaba for half the price, instead of getting a private company to pocket huge profits.
The Rural Doctors Society has called on the GPO, FDA, Rajavithi Hospital and Public Health Ministry to reveal details of the deal and has urged the government to solve this problem, so it doesn’t become another failure.
