Himachal Pradesh sets up panel to look into purchase of ventilators

SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh government has constituted a high-level committee to probe charges of irregularities in the purchase of ventilators by the health department, said a senior official on Wednesday. The four-member panel has been asked to submit its report in 10 days.
The committee, headed by industries director and controller of stores, was formed on Tuesday, with the medical education director, principal of Indira Gandhi Medical College & Hospital, Shimla and the deputy controller - finance and accounts, directorate of medical education, as its members.
Additional chief secretary (health) R D Dhiman said the director, health services has stated that these ventilators were purchased to strengthen the health infrastructure in the wake of Covide-19 pandemic outbreak.
On March 28, a committee was constituted under the chairmanship of deputy director, health services to suggest technical specifications for the ventilators, and on the basis of recommendations, the ventilators were purchased, he said.
The committee also checked price on the central government’s GeM portal for public procurements and studied the process of purchase of ventilators adopted by other states. It was observed that the Odisha Medical Supplies Corporation, an enterprise of Odisha government, had purchased 20 joint ventilators on March 20 for Rs 1.83 crore, excluding GST.
The committee, therefore, recommended the purchase of ventilators costing Rs 9.9 lakh, as it met all the required technical specifications. Seven of the 10 ventilators were received by the department on April 15 and sent to health institutions immediately.
The health services director had in his report informed that the Haryana Medical Supplies Corporation had purchased the above-mentioned ventilators on April 16 and the amount spent on each ventilator was Rs 10.29 lakh — nearly the amount spent on purchase of entire lot by the directorate of health services.