Oximeters missing from Covid kits: Haryana officials likely to face probe

GURUGRAM: Home minister Anil Vij is likely to order a high-level inquiry into alleged irregularities in the distribution of Ayush kits for Covid patients recovering at home.
Sources said Vij had received several complaints from patients and their relatives that equipment such as pulse oximeters were missing from the kits distributed among them. The minister had on May 7 announced the distribution of kits among home isolation patients.
Around 90,000 kits — costing Rs 5,000 each — were supposed to have been distributed among the patients for free. Representatives of the health department had handed out the kits themselves.
“The kit contains 15 items, such as allopathic and ayurvedic medicines, an oximeter, a digital thermometer, a vapouriser, three-layer masks, Ayush Kwath, a booklet with complete information on Covid-19, and so on” an official said.
According to Vij, most of the complaints received by him were regarding missing oximeters. Some patients had reportedly claimed that instead of the entire kit, only a few medicines had been handed to them in a polythene bag. Using polythene bags to hand out the medicines had angered the minister as they are banned in the state.
In an attempt to speed up the delivery of kits to patients, the government had directed the deputy commissioners of the districts to make the purchase and distribution through the office of the chief medical officers.
Deputy commissioner Yash Garg insisted there was no such complaint from Gurugram so far.
“The distribution part has been managed by the office of the chief medical officer. Around 2,500 kits, of a total 6,000, have already been distributed in the district so far,” he added.