Centre asks Punjab government to probe ‘PPE kit scam’ at Amritsar GMCH

AMRITSAR: The ministry of statistics and programme implementation on Friday asked the Punjab government to ensure timebound investigation into allegations of a personal protection equipment (PPE) kit scam at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Amritsar.

In April, doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff at the hospital had refused to use around 2,000 PPE kits alleging that they were substandard and did not include N-95 masks.

They also accused authorities of paying around Rs 41 lakh for the kits, which according to the staff should not have cost more than Rs 7 lakh.

Subsequently, Amritsar deputy commissioner Shiv Dular Singh Dhillon had marked an enquiry into matter on April 24. However, two months on the probe has not been initiated.

Upset over the delay and ‘multiple attempts to sabotage the probe’, local MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla, who had given the hospital Rs 1 crore from his Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) fund, part of which was used to purchase PPEs, sought the Union government’s intervention.

“The probe into allegations of a scam in the purchase of Covid-19 related PPE equipment is being deliberately delayed. Action must be taken at the earliest,” he wrote in a letter to the Centre.

Noting Aujla’s complaint, deputy secretary (MPLADS) Raj Krishan Bhoria wrote to the Punjab State Planning Board principal secretary saying, “Necessary action in the matter may be taken in a time bound manner. A copy of the action taking report may also be forwarded to the Union ministry.”