Supply of Sub-Standard Items: 26 Delhi Hospitals under scanner of Anti Corruption Branch

New Delhi: Amid the ongoing issue of using sub-standard medical items, as many as 26 government hospitals have been asked to share details with the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of their approval and purchase committee.

This development comes after the ACB arrested 10 people for allegedly being involved in the supply of sub-standard items to six government hospitals in Delhi on Tuesday. Among the arrested accused - Seven of them are suppliers and three are laboratory owners.

According to ACB, the suppliers or manufacturers arranged receipts of prescribed items from officials of the hospitals against the supply of sub-standard items and even in the case of short- or non-delivery. The laboratory owners or managers used to supply forged lab reports against the sub-standard items. PTI reports.

Following this, the ACB wrote a letter to 26 government hospitals who have been asked to share details of procurement of the equipment and material they use, their approval and purchase committee, list of suppliers etc.

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Furthermore, people familiar with the matter told HT that the agency has found the involvement of nine doctors from Lok Nayak Hospital in the procurement of sub-standard material. Consequently, the ACB has requested authorization for prosecution against these nine doctors.

Speaking to HT, an officer said, “We have written to 26 Delhi government hospitals to share with us the details of their approval and purchase committee, list of suppliers, materials they use and documents related to it. Essentially, we have asked if the suppliers we have arrested have also supplied any material to them. This is an expansion of our probe into the already registered case... As per protocol, we have sought prosecution sanction from the health department. These doctors were members of the purchase and approval committee.”

According to protocol, the purchase committee prepares the list of items the hospital requires. Then it uploads the requirement on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal, and the approval committee checks after the items are delivered and whether they are according to the standards laid out by the government.

On August 18, 2023, six teams of the vigilance wing of the Health and Family Welfare Department visited Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, Lok Nayak Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial and Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital separately and collected samples of various items like rolled bandages, IV sets, deluxe infusion sets, absorbent cotton, latex gloves, etc.

These samples were sent to different labs and the majority of them either were found sub-standard or failed during testing, a senior official said.

During the initial investigation, it indicated that the alleged firms and suppliers had provided the requisite items through the GeM portal. The items were supposed to be delivered with desired certificates from government-approved labs, the official said.

Fourteen firms connected with the supply in question and belonging to the Delhi-NCR have been inspected. Relevant documents containing supply details have been seized and the suppliers have been questioned, the official added.

Further investigation into the case revealed that the government officials intentionally avoided taking the desired lab reports and licences as mentioned in the GeM contract order, ACB head Madhur Verma said.

In some of the cases, the licence numbers mentioned by the supplier were found to be fake. In most of the cases, batch numbers of delivered items did not match with the batch numbers quoted by the manufacturer or supplier, he said.

It has also surfaced that sub-standard material was purchased from local markets with no parameters at all and was supplied to the hospitals. Receiving of the items was also found given by the concerned officials against nil delivery or short delivery. Verma said Instances have noticed where the approval committee had approved even before receiving the material.

It is also found that the government officials concerned and suppliers or traders keep committing forgeries in documents even after the issue was taken up for investigation, officials said.

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