During polls, Punjab Health Department paid inflated price for 4.87 lakh masks

Vishav Bharti

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Chandigarh, April 18

During the recently held state Assembly elections, the Health Department procured as many as 4.87 lakh N95 masks at inflated rates.

As per the documents available with The Tribune, to meet the Covid-safety requirements during the elections, the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) procured 1.94 lakh N95 masks for Rs 6.20 each on January 5 this year for the EC. As per the specifications, each mask was required to have five layers without a respirator and with a head loop. And the mask should have met the Bureau of Indian Standards certification.

Apart from that, the PHSC also freezed the rate of the N95 mask at Rs 6.20 for the next six months. This meant that the firm couldn’t increase the price over the next six months and was bound to supply at Rs 6.20 per piece. However, a month later on February 7, the same agency placed another order of N95 masks to be supplied to the government hospitals. But this time, the PHSC procured 4.87 lakh N95 masks at Rs 10.40 each.

The PHSC paid almost double the price than the rate fixed on January 5 while placing an order for the EC.

Significantly, the purchase was made from the central funds. After the Covid outbreak, the Centre had given Rs 198-crore Covid Emergency Response and Health Systems Package to Punjab.

It is not the first time when a scam in the purchase of Covid-related material has surfaced. Earlier in an exclusive story last month, The Tribune had highlighted that the PHSC purchased over 1.8 lakh bottles of alcohol-based hand sanitisers on January 5 for the EC and that each 500 ml bottle was purchased at Rs 54.54 (excluding GST). And for supply to the hospitals, the PHSC 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.

Taking cognisance of The Tribune report regarding the sanitiser scam, Minister for Health, Medical Education and Research Dr Vijay Singla had also ordered an inquiry against the erring officials.

Meanwhile, Dr Sharanjit Kaur, Director Procurement, under whose signatures both the procurements were done, refused to comment on the issue, saying that she is not the competent authority to talk to the media. PHSC managing director Bhupinder Singh wasn’t available for comments.

Health Minister unaware

The matter isn’t in my knowledge. We’ll look into it once anything comes to my knowledge. Vijay Singla, Health Minister