In modern healthcare, procurement decisions influence far more than hospital budgets. They determine patient safety, infection control, regulatory compliance and operational resilience. Four experienced supply chain leaders spoke to Clean India Journal about why healthcare procurement must evolve from a cost-driven function into a strategic pillar of quality care.
For decades, procurement in hospitals was measured by a familiar yardstick: How much money could be saved through negotiations and competitive bidding. Lowest-price procurement became synonymous with efficiency, often earning purchasing teams’ recognition for delivering immediate financial gains.
That mindset, however, is steadily changing.
Mohammad Nafisul Haque, Deputy General Manager – Supply Chain, Jay Prabha Medanta Super Speciality Hospital, believes procurement has crossed the stage where cost alone can dictate buying decisions. “In today’s healthcare environment, infection control is undoubtedly a primary driver,” he says. “A lower-cost product that compromises infection prevention ultimately results in much higher clinical and operational costs.”
Instead of comparing only prices, Haque explains that procurement teams should evaluate efficacy, regulatory certifications, user acceptance, product quality and their impact on patient safety.
Pradeep Mishra, VP – Purchase & Supply Chain, Yashoda Group of Hospitals, offers a blunter assessment. “Let’s drop the pretence; cost is still king,” he remarks. The traditional L1 procurement model, he argues, continues to reward the lowest bidder even when hospitals cannot adequately determine whether a product will perform reliably in clinical settings.
“We have engineered a system that excels at finding the cheapest bidder but struggles to verify whether that bidder’s product actually performs on the floor.”
While Mishra questions the industry’s dependence on the lowest-price model, Vijaya Hebbar, Cluster Lead – Supply Chain Management, Rainbow Children’s Hospital, illustrates the consequences through experience.
During one supplier evaluation, her team found quality concerns with examination gloves offered at a significantly lower price. Instead of accepting the financial savings, Rainbow Children’s Hospital continued with an existing trusted supplier.
Hebbar recalls another instance involving disinfectants. Although a new supplier quoted lower prices, the company failed to provide the necessary quality and compliance documentation.
“There was no dilemma,” she says. “Patient safety is always more important than cost savings.”
R. K. Aggarwal, Head Central Buying, CARE Hospitals, is of firm view that lower-cost suppliers are often rejected when products fail hygiene, quality, or compliance standards. “Key rejection factors include poor packaging that raises contamination risk, inferior technology compromising patient safety and comfort, and substandard materials causing post-use side-effects or infections,” he says, adding, “The justification for selecting higher-priced suppliers is entirely based on patient safety and clinical integrity.”
Internally, procurement teams prioritise infection prevention, quality assurance, and patient well-being over immediate cost savings. This principle-driven approach safeguards clinical outcomes, builds long-term stakeholder trust, and minimises adverse events. Procurement success extends beyond savings.
Ward Reality
Even the best procurement decision can fail if products are not used correctly after reaching hospital wards. The gap between central procurement and ward-level compliance remains one of the biggest challenges hospitals are facing.
Haque says procurement cannot end once purchase orders are issued. Instead, procurement teams must work closely with infection control specialists, nursing leadership and end users throughout the product lifecycle. Product evaluations, user training, feedback mechanisms and regular compliance audits all become essential if hospitals want procurement decisions to translate into safer patient care.
Mishra agrees but argues that many hospitals underestimate the seriousness of this disconnect. “Most institutions would admit they are not managing this gap well enough if they were being completely candid,” he says.
A sanitizer with the correct alcohol concentration, for example, becomes ineffective if housekeeping staff are not trained on proper dilution practices. Similarly, approved PPE loses its value if cheaper substitutes quietly replace stocked items during shortages.
“We talk endlessly about what we buy,” Mishra observes, “but we rarely audit what actually ends up on the ward trolley.”
Closing this gap requires standard operating procedures that accompany every product, random spot audits to verify compliance and rapid feedback systems that allow frontline nurses to immediately report defective batches instead of waiting for quarterly reviews.
Hebbar has encountered precisely this situation. Her team ensured approved hand hygiene and disinfectant products were available across departments, yet consumption reports revealed significant inconsistencies. Some departments consumed considerably less than expected while others reported unusually high usage.
Rather than assuming procurement had failed, the hospital investigated further.
Working jointly with nursing and infection-control teams, procurement-initiated awareness programmes, strengthened monitoring and encouraged better compliance.
The result was just not improved adherence to infection-control protocols but a measurable reduction in wastage. The episode reinforced an important lesson: procurement may supply the right products, but patient safety depends equally on how consistently those products
are used.
Illustrating an incident how ward-level compliance did not match procurement expectations, Aggarwal says, “There was an instance where certain wards did not consistently use the sterile consumables that had been procured to reduce infection risks. The issue was identified during routine audits and feedback from infection-control teams. Corrective measures included targeted staff training, reinforcing SOPs, and closer collaboration between nursing leadership and procurement to ensure that product usage aligned with infection-prevention protocols.
Healthcare procurement is no longer merely a purchasing function; it is a strategic enabler of patient safety, infection prevention, regulatory compliance and operational continuity”— Mohammad Nafisul Haque
Green Shift
Haque believes the industry’s challenge is not to eliminate single-use products but to make the rest of the supply chain greener.
“Sustainability is increasingly becoming part of procurement discussions,” he says. While patient safety will continue to dictate the use of many disposable products, hospitals can make significant progress through environmentally responsible packaging, waste reduction initiatives, energy-efficient equipment and partnerships with manufacturers that follow sustainable production practices.
Mishra agrees that green procurement is gathering momentum, though he offers a more realistic assessment of what is driving the change.
“Let’s be clear,” he says. “It’s regulation pushing the industry forward, not the industry choosing to lead the charge.”
Packaging that allows easier segregation, materials that can be autoclaved or shredded without creating operational bottlenecks, and procurement clauses covering end-of-life disposal are gradually becoming part of vendor evaluations.
“It isn’t yet a mainstream clinical conversation,” Mishra notes. “For many organisations, it’s still an ESG checkbox that is slowly becoming a procurement requirement.”
Despite the differing perspectives, both experts agree that sustainability is no longer optional. Environmental considerations are steadily becoming another parameter alongside quality, safety and cost.
Aggarwal says, “Procurement success extends beyond savings. Key metrics include lower infection rates, strong audit compliance, fewer complaints, reduced wastage, improved workflows, and positive staff feedback. Together, these measure procurement’s real impact on patient safety and organisational performance.
We’ve engineered a system that excels at finding the cheapest bidder but struggles to verify whether the product actually performs on the hospital floor”— Pradeep Mishra
Vendor Trust
For Haque, vendor qualification is fundamentally a risk-management exercise.
Suppliers are evaluated not merely on pricing but on regulatory compliance, manufacturing capabilities, quality management systems, product certifications, supply reliability and after-sales support. Product trials and technical evaluations are conducted with active participation from infection-control specialists and clinicians before products are approved.
“This cross-functional approach ensures products meet both operational and clinical requirements,” he explains.
Mishra, however, believes much of the industry still mistakes documentation for
due diligence.
“For a large part of the sector, vendor qualification remains administrative theatre,” he remarks.
Markets were flooded with under-tested sanitizers and substandard PPE, yet many hospitals lacked the internal mechanisms to verify product quality before the supplies reached clinicians.
“The uncomfortable question,” Mishra says, “is how much has genuinely changed since then, and how much we’ve simply slipped back into business as usual.”
Hebbar’s experience echoes that concern from a practical standpoint.
She recalls rejecting a lower-cost disinfectant supplier because the company could not furnish the required quality and compliance documentation. The decision increased procurement costs in the short term but removed uncertainty around product performance.
Aggarwal cites the common mistakes in procuring hygiene and infection-control products. The three most frequent
pitfalls are:
• Overemphasis on cost — Choosing cheaper products without evaluating long-term patient safety implications.
• Insufficient supplier validation — Not assessing supplier compliance with hygiene and regulatory standards.
• Ignoring end-user feedback — Overlooking practical usability and staff comfort, which can affect compliance.
Lessons Learned
For Hebbar, the greatest challenge was ensuring uninterrupted supplies of PPE, masks, gloves and sanitizers during unprecedented global shortages.
Looking back, she identifies three procurement mistakes that healthcare organisations continue to make: focusing excessively on price, failing to involve end users during product evaluation and relying too heavily on single vendors for critical products.
Haque draws a similar lesson from the disruptions experienced across the healthcare sector.
Mishra believes the industry’s biggest takeaway should be that preparedness cannot be switched on during a crisis.
“Too often,” he says, “we implement robust procurement practices only when a crisis forces our hand.”
Aggarwal asserts the most significant challenge during the COVID-19 period was arranging oxygen and essential drugs amidst severe shortages. While PPE, disinfectants, and consumables were also in short supply, they were managed — albeit at higher costs — through urgent procurement. The critical lesson learned was the importance of supply-chain resilience:
• Always maintain at least two suppliers for critical items.
• Prioritise local suppliers to reduce dependency on disrupted global logistics.
• Assess suppliers’ financial strength to ensure continuity during crises.
Every procurement decision should focus on value and safety — not just cost”— Vijaya Hebbar
Future Ready
Haque believes the future lies in digitalisation, predictive demand planning, data analytics and greater visibility across the supply chain.
“The lessons learned during recent healthcare disruptions have highlighted the importance of diversified sourcing and strategic inventory management,” he says.
Mishra agrees that the direction is encouraging but warns that capability across the healthcare sector remains uneven. He points out that amendments to biomedical waste regulations and increased scrutiny of air-handling systems have undoubtedly raised standards.
For Hebbar, future readiness begins with disciplined execution of the fundamentals. Among the initiatives she is most proud of is the standardisation of key consumables and improved inventory management across multiple hospital locations. The effort reduced stock-outs, improved product availability and enabled smoother hospital operations.
Aggarwal feels that as a procurement leader in healthcare, the challenges that weigh most heavily are those that directly affect patient safety and continuity of care. “Every procurement decision has a ripple effect on clinical outcomes, staff confidence, and patient trust. Procurement is not just about purchasing — it is about safeguarding lives through every choice made in the supply chain,” he asserts.
Procurement is not just about purchasing — it is about safeguarding lives through every choice made in the supply chain”— R.K. Aggarwal
Strategic Role
For Haque, procurement has evolved into “a strategic enabler of patient safety, infection prevention, regulatory compliance, operational continuity and sustainability.”
Mishra would like the industry to move beyond its long-standing obsession with the lowest bidder and instead reward verified performance, stronger clinical partnerships and accountability throughout the product lifecycle.
Aggarwal demonstrated how procurement, when aligned with infection-control priorities, can have a direct and positive impact on clinical outcomes. He says, “There have been several instances where procurement decisions directly contributed to infection prevention and improved patient safety. One notable example was the decision to source and implement sterile lignocaine jelly.”
Hebbar’s message is perhaps the simplest, yet the most enduring. “Procurement is not just about buying products,” she says. “It plays an important role in patient safety, quality of care and operational continuity. Every procurement decision should focus on value and safety — not just cost.”
Taken together, their insights reflect a profession that has undergone a profound transformation. The era when procurement success was measured solely by savings is drawing to a close. The new benchmark is far more demanding: Delivering the right product, at the right quality, through the right supplier, at the right time — without ever compromising patient safety.
In the end, that may well be the most valuable investment any healthcare institution can make.