Dr Vijay Singla seeks report in sanitiser scam

Vishav Bharti

Chandigarh, March 23

Taking cognisance of The Tribune report regarding a scam in sanitiser procurement during the Covid-19 pandemic, state Minister for Health, Medical Education and Research Dr Vijay Singla has sought a report from the Health Department within 24 hours.

• Also read: Amid 3rd wave, Punjab health officials ‘paid inflated rates’ for sanitisers

At a meeting with health officials at the Punjab Bhawan, the minister pulled up officials for irregularities in the procurement and asked them to submit a report within 24 hours.

Sources said the officials tried to hush up the matter, but the minister asked them to come up with the record. Talking to The Tribune, Dr Singla said nobody would be spared, if found guilty. “If the need be, we will launch inquiries against the officials too,” he added.

In an exclusive story, The Tribune had highlighted that the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) purchased over 1.8 lakh bottles of alcohol-based hand sanitizer on January 5 for the Election Commission and each 500 ml bottle was purchased at Rs 54.54 (excluding GST). For hospitals, it purchased 1.55 lakh bottles (500 ml each) of the same sanitiser at Rs 160 (excluding GST).

Thus, the Health Department spent around three times more than the rates at which it had purchased the same product for the EC.

Plea to probe all purchases

• Alleging this scam could be just a tip of the iceberg, the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) sought a probe into all purchases made over the past two years
• Dr Gagandeep Singh and Dr Gagandeep Shergill, president and senior vice-president of PCMSA, said a fast-track probe should be ordered into the scam and the guilty must be punished