(a) Whether the delay on the part of the Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation Ltd. (BIBCOL) to decide and dispose of the materials before its expiry resulted in a loss of Rs. 91.39 lakh ;
(b) If so, the details thereof; and
(c) The steps taken to avoid such incidents in future?
MINISTER OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTER OF EARTH SCIENCES (KAPIL SIBAl)
(a) & (b) Due to change in policy of Government to procure Oral Polio Vaccine formulated
out of the bulk obtained from WHO pre-qualified sources only, BIBCOL could not dispose
off 6.149 million doses of OPV vaccine left over at the end of the year 2001-02. Disposal of
the stock through the trade market could not be done immediately as number of steps such
as newspaper advertisement, verification of credentials, licenses etc of the prospective super
distributors had to be taken. In the meantime, validity of the bulk expired and, as a result,
the stock amounting to Rs 91.30 lakhs had to be written off. The CVO of the company is
investigating the matter for fixing the responsibility, if any.
(c) The bulk vaccine is now being procured from WHO pre-qualified sources only thereby
leaving no scope for such an eventuality.