As part of the policy of centralised purchasing of medicines, the Province of Santa Fe put out to tender the purchase of immunosuppressants, whose main function is to prevent the immune system of a transplanted person from rejecting the implanted organ, which implies a rigorous and personalised schedule with this medication. The official budget for this tender is $ 1,613,605,162.50 and includes 19 pharmaceutical products (items).
The opening of envelopes was held in the auditorium of the Cemafe, and was attended by the Secretary of Administration, Guillermo Álvarez; the director of the Single Centre for Organ Donation, Ablation and Implantation (Cudaio), Cecilia Andrada; and the Undersecretary of Medicines and Health Technology, Emiliano Melero. "We have 11 public bidding processes underway for the purchase of supplies and medicines, with a total budget of $55,854,433,422.53," said the Ministry's Secretary of Administration at the start of the event.
And he specified that these processes were initiated in the last months of last year, planning the supply for the first half of 2025, with continuity in the stock of medicines and supplies that were put out to tender. In addition, he said that "between the purchases of 2024 and so far in 2025, plus the amount that is being tendered today, we have 3,000 million pesos allocated for immunosuppressive medication by the provincial public health system.
At the same time, he stressed that "the participation of 10 bidding firms reflects confidence in the health system, and above all in Santa Fe's administrative system, which complies with payment and delivery deadlines, and has gained greater reliability through the centralised purchasing system implemented together with the Ministry of Economy since last y Álvarez also focused on another substantial investment in the Ministry's annual budget: "In 2025, the Province will invest more than 26 billion pesos in chronic dialysis treatment.
This also highlights the importance of the historic work of the Cudaio team in procurement, which makes access to kidney transplantation possible, allowing hundreds of patients to be freed from dialysis treatment. Once people have access to transplants, the official explained, "having immunosuppressive medication makes a vital difference: if this supply is not guaranteed, the transplant recipient may need dialysis again and in the worst case scenario it could cost him or her life".
Along these lines, he reaffirmed that "this government will not leave patients without the treatments they need because Governor Maximiliano Pullaro and the Minister of Health, Silvia Ciancio, are asking us for efficient management to guarantee the presence of the state so that patients have access to medicines, understood as a social good". ear, and which has also saved billions of pesos.
Essential medication
Cecilia Andrada detailed that Cudaio regularly delivers these drugs to 391 patients and valued that the institution, which depends on the Ministry of Health, "has a specific area that complies with strict administrative protocols for delivery, with a strong and sensitive burden of responsibility, since many lives depend on its compliance". Bearing in mind that the opening of envelopes coincided with the 43rd anniversary of the creation of the Cudaio, its director valued the role played by the institution: "historically our institution has been spoken of as a leader in procurement at national level, in fact for more than 10 years we have been above the national average in donors per million inhabitants and we finished 2024 third at national level, after the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the province of Buenos Aires".
10 bids
The bids submitted were as follows: Bosch Group SC, $2,085,293,404.60; Droguería Meta S.A., $2,199,686,710; Redimer S.A., $2,167,107,906.20; Droguería Comarsa S.A., $1,407,392,246.70; Droguería Kellerhoff S.A., $2,362,845,533.90; Macropharma S.A., 1,969,813,102.50; Droguería 20 de junio S.A. $ 1,902,276,678.40; Droguería Monumento S.A., $ 2,228,725,026; ABC S.A. $2,046,199,116.80 and finally Suizo Argentino S.A. $2,197,461,700.
The ceremony was attended by the deputy director of CUDAIO, Martín Morejón; the medical director of Cemafé, Sebastián Calvet; and the deputy director, Natalia Anaya, among others.
