Punjab Health Minister Vijay Singla orders probe into sanitiser scam

Vishav Bharti

Chandigarh, April 6

Taking cognisance of The Tribune report regarding a scam in sanitiser procurement during Covid, Minister for Health, Medical Education and Research Vijay Singla has ordered an inquiry against the erring officials.

While talking to The Tribune, Singla said that earlier he had sought a report from the department regarding the sanitiser procurement. However, the report was not found satisfactory, so an inquiry had been ordered, he said.

He said the inquiry would be conducted by Principal Secretary (Health) Raj Kamal Chaudhary who had been asked to submit the report within a week. “Our policy is clear that we won’t tolerate any kind of corruption. The guilty will be brought to the book,” he said.

The Tribune had highlighted that the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) had purchased over 1.8 lakh bottles of alcohol-based hand sanitisers on January 5 for the Election Commission and the each 500 ml bottle was purchased for Rs 54.54 (excluding GST). And for supplying to the 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 the rates at which it had purchased the same product for the Election Commission.