The Dominican Republic is facing a serious shortage of sanitary supplies, for which reason the state will make a nearly 3 billion peso purchase of medications. The Essential Drugs Program/Central Logistics Support (Programa de Medicamentos Esenciales/Central de Apoyo Logístico or PROMESE/CAL) circulated the proposals presented by the 79 participants in the public bidding process, and its director, Antonio Peña Mirabal, indicated that the procurement includes drugs, disposable materials, items related to nutrition, or products for topical use.

The government is seeking for prescriptions to be accessible to all social classes, particularly those with fewer resources who can only afford to pay low prices for these items. Proteins, anti-hypertensive drugs, anti-pyretic medications, antibiotics, and flu anti-virals are some of the drugs included in this joint purchase in an effort to preserve the high levels of quality of these products.

The agency, which is tasked with overseeing the investment, will also carry out a laboratory check to ensure a match between what is requested and what is delivered by the providers who win the aforementioned bidding process.