Haryana govt to seek CAG audit of medical purchases after INLD allegations

Chandigarh: The Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana decided to seek a special CAG audit of medical purchases in state-run hospitals following allegations of irregularities leveled by the opposition INLD yesterday.

Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij said the state government had distributed Rs 87.60 crore under the Mukhyamantri Muft Ilaaj Yojana and National Health Mission from 2014 to 2017, of which only Rs 40.89 crore was spent.

He said the state government would write to the CAG to conduct a "special audit" into all the purchases concerning medical items at the district level by the officials of the health department in the past over three years.

"If any irregularity is found, strict action would be initiated against the officer concerned. Apart from this, all civil surgeons have been directed to purchase online products available on the Government-e-Marketplace portal of the central government," he said.

Vij also claimed the allegations of a Rs 300 crore scam leveled by INLD MP Dushyant Chautala at a press conference here yesterday were baseless and misleading.

He said from 2014 to 2017, Rs 75 crore were distributed under Mukhyamantri Muft Ilaaj Yojana, of which Rs 33.03 crore were spent. Similarly, Rs 12.60 crore were distributed under the National Health Mission during this period, of which Rs 7.86 crore was spent, he added.

Presenting the documents pertaining to purchases undertaken in Rohtak district, he said a committee was constituted for this purpose and a tender was allotted to the bid with the minimum value.

Responding to other allegations leveled by the main opposition party, the state health minister said civil surgeon, Fatehabad, had purchased 2,000 triple layer sterilized masks through e-tendering, which cost Rs 4.90 per mask, but the 1,000 masks mentioned by INLD were common masks which cost about 95 paise per mask.

Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) had yesterday alleged there were irregularities to the tune of Rs 300 crore in the purchase of medicines and other related items and demanded a CBI probe in the matter.

Norms were violated in the purchases made at the district level by the concerned officials over the past three years, Chautala had alleged.