Raipur: The audit report covering just the two years of the Congress regime pointed out alleged malpractices by the Chhattisgarh Medical Services Corporation (CGMSC) of the health department in stripping the state’s exchequer. Mathematically, it is 660 crores, which is a staggering sum of money, and the jury has given clearance for this amount, which will result in a burden to the exchequer. This might trigger exposure of some officials and ministers,” Muchira said.
This audit report revealed that over the past two financial years, the organization made what can be regarded as unnecessary and, in some cases, even reckless and over-the-top purchases of chemicals and equipment without due regard for the relevant standards and procedures or even directly violating them. Innovation focused on supplying items to hospitals that they never required and lacked storage and proper utilization facilities for such equipment. For instance, 776 primary health centers were supplied, of which over 350 PHCs were reported to have inadequate technical staff and accommodation for storage.
Based on the audit team’s recommendation, tasking demands of equipment and reagents were issued by the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) without preparation of surveys of health institutions or needs assessment. This led the purchasing agency to donate high-value equipment and reagents to 766 Primary Health Centers with no guarantee of those centers’ ability to effectively utilize it. As a result, there are many idle pieces of apparatus and reagents of a low standard, which make up the chemicals that are likely to degrade.
An email from the audit team to the health department suggested that the team is now developing an audit plan for CGMSC, DHS, NHM, and regional health facilities. The departments have been ordered to coordinate, and dates and times appropriate for the audit have been asked for.
After the disclosure in the CAG audit report, the CAG department of issued a letter to the health department. Therefore, the health department is hereby anticipating a review meeting regarding the audit on the 2nd of July.
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