COVID commission finds procedural and administrative lapses in procurement of medical equipment worth over ₹918.34 crore by Medical Education Directorate

Report reveals procedural lapses in COVID-19 equipment procurement, recommending criminal prosecution and recovery of excess payments.

The report by the commission headed by retired High Court judge John Michael D’Cunha, which probed into the alleged COVID-19 scam that is said to have occurred during the BJP government’s tenure, has found several procedural and administrative lapses in the purchase orders worth over ₹918.34 crore issued by the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) towards procurement of medical equipment, PPE kits, masks, ICU units, CT scanners, baby incubators, and other consumables during the financial years 2019-2020 to 2022-2023.

According to a 351-page report on procurements made by the DME that is compiled in part III of the report, procurement was made without quotations and without determining the price. While several companies dealing in medical equipment have indulged in “corrupt and fraudulent practices” in connivance with officials, records relating to the installations were not available in the files. “There is prima facie material suggesting bid rigging and cartel formation by certain firms with the nexus of officials,” stated the report.

Recommending criminal prosecution against officials and recovery of over ₹90 crore excess amount paid to the companies and dealers, the commission has suggested blacklisting several firms.

While the commission found several discrepancies in the procurement of arterial blood gas analysers, artificial manual breathing unit bags, and automated biochemistry analysers, it has said the purchase of baby incubators worth nearly ₹2 crore was made without quotations. Noting that the records relating to the installations were not available in the file, the commission has recommended a departmental inquiry against the officials involved in the procurement.

“While there is a delay of more than one month in the supply and installation of baby incubators, the procurement was made based on a single quotation, without the determination of the actual market price of the equipment. The procurement was made at the higher rate at ₹5.5 lakh per unit against the estimated government rate of ₹1 lakh.”

According to information provided by the current Medical Education Director to the commission, 253 defibrillators at a total cost of ₹14.5 crore were procured during the pandemic and ₹13.07 crore was paid to the supplier.

Quotations were called on March 23, 2020, for procurement of these machines and the lowest bidder was issued a purchase order on March 26 on the condition to complete the supplies within two days, failing which penalty of 0.15% of the undelivered quantity was to be levied for each day and delay exceeding seven days would entail cancellation.