Haffkine Bio‑Pharmaceuticals’ procurement department in Maharashtra has officially sought explanations from two pharmaceutical firms—Galpha Laboratories Ltd and Bajaj Healthcare Ltd—for supplying drugs in February 2025 that were already on the ESIC blacklist due to being declared substandard in December 2024. Nearly 21.9 lakh vials of Pantoprazole injections (Rs 2.5 crore) and 88,650 tablets of a Vildagliptin‑Metformin combo (Rs 12.6 lakh) were procured for state hospitals—despite a government mandate to use only ESIC-approved contracts via the e‑Aushadhi system. Haffkine, though no longer the main procurement body, had authority over remaining funds (Rs 131.6 crore). They have withheld payments pending responses from the companies and ESIC, and face criticism—from watchdogs like Abhay Pandey—for failing to verify blacklist status or perform random quality checks. ESIC has confirmed the blacklisting and attributed it to Delhi HQ .

sources