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- The military has released a report revealing all essential medical supplies purchases from early to summer 2020.
- The army pharmacy received a total of around 2.5 billion francs in loans in the first wave of Covid-19, divided into two phases. Of this, 28 percent had been spent in August.
- At the beginning of the pandemic, products such as masks were very expensive; In early May, prices started to stabilize a bit.
With the Federal Council’s decision on March 20, 2020, the army pharmacy was tasked with the procurement of the important medical products, according to the procurement report. Because at the time there was a supply gap threat: for example, the federal government only had 13.5 million masks from BAG’s 2007 pandemic stockpile.
In the first phase of the pandemic, the army pharmacy received a loan of 350 million francs for 60 days of security of supply. In a second phase, it received around 2.1 billion francs and a supply guarantee for another 120 days, according to the procurement report. In total, the army pharmacy had about 2,500 million francs. This means that 10,000 pallets of material have been imported into Switzerland.
The procurement specifications would be defined by the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) and carried out by the army pharmacy.
The Five Important Medical Articles
The most important medical products were defined in the Covid-19 regulation, the quantity specifications were made by BAG. Almost 190 million francs were spent on almost 300 million masks and almost 40 million francs on surgical aprons. Disinfectants were ordered at a relatively low price; this costs a good 100,000 francs.
According to the report, prices were very volatile between February and May, and in early May they began to stabilize with a downward trend.
Coordinated procurement on two fronts
The DDPS has established a “Corona VBS Procurement Coordination” working group to implement the acquisition. According to the report, this defined a dual acquisition strategy: primarily, each organization (eg, hospitals) that relied on medical protection products continued to independently purchase them from the market. On behalf of the FOPH, the army pharmacy procured the shortage of products for the Swiss health system from alternative suppliers in order to avoid a supply gap.
