There is a vast difference in the prices of ventilators for hospitals to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, purchased under the PM Cares Fund. Technical committee constituted under DGHS has not recommended two of the companies to whom an advance was released.
These have been revealed in an RTI response regarding the procurement of essential medical equipment with funds allocated through the PM Cares Fund.
The RTI has also revealed that at least one such purchase order was given without the nod of the Technical committee constituted under DGHS constituted to ensure availability of essential medical equipment, as it pre-dates the constitution of the group.
On June 18, 2020, RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj had wanted information regarding the details of hospitals run by the Centre which have been allocated money or have been supplied ventilators paid for through the PM Cares Fund, including the names of the hospitals.
She also sought to know the total amount allocated from PM Cares Fund, total number of ventilators supplied and the number of ventilators that have been delivered and paid for by the Fund.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in a response dated July 20, 2020, told they supplied 250 ventilators to DRDO COVID Hospital in Delhi and three have been provided to the All India Institute of Ayurveda, Delhi. No funds are being provided to hospitals for purchase of ventilators.
The ministry also said The Ministry and HLL had made purchase orders for 58,850 ‘Make in India’ ventilators. PM Cares is proving Rs 2,000 crore for the purchase of Make in India ventilators. The reply further notes that the technical committee constituted under DGHS recommended only 3 of the 6 companies.
It finally notes that 17,100 ventilators have been allocated to states or UTs. However, a reading of the table containing the names of the companies, the acquisition order quantity and the purchase order value provided in the RTI response show wide variation in the price of ventilators.
According to RTI activist Anjali details of the 17,100 ventilators allocated to the states and UTs, in terms of the names of the hospitals to which these were allocated, the number of ventilators allocated etc couldn’t be located within the property right.
In another RTI filed on June 18, 2020, Bhardwaj requested a copy of correspondence through which the views of the Department of Health and Family Welfare were sought on the supply of ventilators from the PM Cares Fund.
In response, a copy of the communication between the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Health Ministry was provided. It was a letter dated May 18, 2020 from Bhaskar Khulbe (adviser to the Prime Minister), written to Secretary, MoHFW and a reply from Secretary, MoHFW dated May 20, 2020.
The letter from Khulbe noted that the Health Ministry has already initiated the process of procurement of ventilators based on the recommendations of the empowered group constituted and requests a detailed proposal in order that 50,000 ventilators are often financed through the PM Cares Fund.
It stated that the whole administrative process of purchase and deployment of those ventilators are going to be done by the ministry as per government norms of procurement. It also stated that manufacturers should be told that the ventilators carry a definite identity showing that they need been supplied from PM Cares fund and also are embedded with a GPS device.
It further noted that the purchase order of Rs 166 crore to a company was given prior to the constitution of the empowered group. The table containing the names of the companies, the purchase order quantity and the purchase order value show a wide disparity in the pricing of ventilators. At least one order was given without the nod of the empowered group because it pre-dated the constitution of the group.
Bhardwaj said that it was found that Technical committee constituted under DGHS not recommended two of the companies to whom an advance was released.
As PM Narendra Modi announced the launch of the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund, or PM CARES, the announcement was met with instant criticism.
Objections were raised and Petitions were filed in the Supreme Court after the government did not take note of these objections. Now, the Supreme Court has dismissed a petition seeking transfer of funds or merger of the PM Cares Fund with the PMNRF.
This ruling formally upholds the separate identity of the PM Cares Fund. The Supreme Court has ruled that the central government has the freedom to decide the financial measures to be adopted to deal with Covid-19 pandemic.
Does PM Cares require audit by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG)? Since it is a public charitable trust with voluntary donations and does not receive any government support, no CAG audit is required, the Supreme Court has ruled. In case of NDRF, the guidelines issued by the central government as per DM Act specifically provide for audit of the NDRF by CAG.
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