Tainted firm gets PGI centre contract
LUCKNOW: The under construction Trauma Centre of Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) is in news for wrong reasons.
Fingers are being raised over granting contract for construction and maintenance of eight operation theatres at the trauma centre to a company, which was held responsible for four deaths that took place in a trauma centre of a Delhi-based hospital.
The company, PESIPL, was in charge of supplying oxygen to the ICU of Sushruta Trauma Centre, New Delhi, where on December 4 last year, a glitch in the manifold room led to the death of four patients.
Sources said the company failed to ensure oxygen supply to the ICU as it had not laid filters and oxygen supply pipes as per the norms.
The company was blacklisted after a probe by a committee indicted it. It was barred from participating in any tender process or contract agreement with any government-run hospital for two years.
Despite the ban, the contract was awarded to it for SGPGIMS’ trauma centre.
The SGPGIMS administration, meanwhile, shifted the onus of awarding contract to the blacklisted firm to the officials of Uttar Pradesh Rajkiya Nirman Nigam (UPRNN). The UPRNN officials refused to speak on the issue.
The matter came into limelight when ‘someone’ forwarded a complaint to the chief minister office, prompting them to seek a reply from the SGPGIMS.
On Thursday, a social worker MC Srivastava submitted an application seeking a probe into the process of awarding the contract to the tainted firm at the office of the lokayukta.
The applicant has also sought an inquiry into the role of MD UP RNN RN Yadav, general manager electrical Reena Agarwal, director SGPGIMS professor RK Sharma, in charge of SGPGIMS wing of UPRNN R Singh and executive engineer AK Singh.
SGPGIMS officials, while maintaining that they had no role in awarding the contract, favoured a probe into the deal.
Since the director was out of city and was not available for comment, medical superintendent professor Rakesh Kapoor said; “We will respond as soon as the director returns.”