The case of Karnataka’s vanishing ventilators: HLL made ‘patently false’ claims on supplying 998 machines during Covid, says probe panel

The accusation provided by HLL connected ventilator supplies to Karnataka nether the PM Cares strategy indicated a “deliberate suppression of information and fact”, the committee has stated. It has besides recommended a “detailed enquiry into the alleged proviso of ventilators nether PM Care done Lokayukta oregon immoderate different investigating bureau arsenic recovered proper”.

The D’Cunha Commission was acceptable up by the Congress authorities successful Karnataka successful August 2023 to analyse irregularities successful procurements during the Covid situation erstwhile the BJP was successful power. The proposal against HLL is portion of an 11-volume interim study submitted by the committee connected August 31 this twelvemonth aft looking into alleged irregularities successful procurements worthy Rs 7,223 crore by agencies specified arsenic the Health and Family Welfare Services, National Health Mission, KSMSCL, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, and others.

The Karnataka authorities has formed a furniture sub-committee to look into the recommendations of the commission.

The ‘missing’ ventilators

The state-run KSMSCL issued proviso orders for ventilators from HLL nether the PM CARES strategy doubly successful March 2020 – the archetypal connected March 4 and the 2nd connected March 22, according to the measurement study connected procurements by KSMSCL, accessed by The Indian Express. The March 4 proviso bid was for 1,250 ventilators and the March 22 1 was for 130 ventilators from the cardinal procurement agency. However, determination were nary records to “show the supply, organisation and installation” of these ventilators, the committee has reported.

When HLL was summoned by the committee to furnish details of the ventilators supplied, the state-run steadfast said that it had “not received immoderate proviso bid from KSMSCL for the proviso of Ventilators nether PM Care during Covid-19. HLL Life Care Limited (HLL) has placed orders for the proviso of ventilators nether PM Care money nether instructions received from Ministry of Health and Family Welfare”. It added that it had “coordinated the supply, installation & commissioning of these ventilators and merchandise of payments”.

HLL was past directed to record an affidavit swearing to the said facts, to which HLL responded by submitting the database of ventilator suppliers and details of ventilators supplied to hospitals successful Karnataka. In this letter, HLL said that the institution had “placed orders for proviso of ventilators nether PM Care money & non PM Care money during Covid 19 nether instructions from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India (MoH&FW)….The allocation of ventilators were besides issued by MoH&FW arsenic per requests received from assorted States. HLL has coordinated the supply, installation & commissioning of these ventilators and merchandise of payments are per the presumption & conditions agreed upon”.

The documents attached by HLL had a database of 998 ventilators costing Rs 14.82 crore supplied “free of cost” to Karnataka. Of these, 112 (worth Rs 1.66 crore) were from Andhra Pradesh Med Tech Zone Ltd, Visakhapatnam, and 886 (worth Rs 13.16 crore) were from AgVa Healthcare, Noida. Each ventilator had a portion outgo of Rs 1.48 lakh.

The database nether the Visakhapatnam-based steadfast said that ‘Kiran Ventilator LV 1000’ were installed successful 112 hospitals successful Karnataka. The database nether AgVa Healthcare contained a database of 100 hospitals “showing 886 numbers arsenic ‘AV-AD-Covid’ without disclosing arsenic to whether the ‘AV-AD-Covid’ were ventilators oregon immoderate different instrumentality and whether the aforesaid were supplied and installed successful the hospitals listed therein. No specified accusation has been given,” the committee said.

To cross-check, the committee compared the database with the banal registry of KR Hospital, Mysuru wherever HLL claimed it had supplied 20 ventilators nether the scheme, during a astonishment inspection. “… nary specified instrumentality look to person been taken into banal successful KR Hospital, Mysore betwixt March 2020 and December 2022, making it evident that the accusation fixed by HLL Lifecare Limited to the Commission arsenic to the proviso of ICU ventilators nether PM Care isolated from being vague and misleading is patently false. Likewise, the banal registry astatine Kodagu Institute of Medical Science whose sanction appears successful the said database besides has not taken into banal immoderate ventilators of ‘AV-AD-Covid’ oregon ‘Kiran Ventilator LV 1000’ make. The mode successful which the supra accusation is fixed by HLL indicates a deliberate suppression of information and fact,” the committee said.

The committee recovered records to amusement that 3,503 ventilators were received by KSMSCL nether the PM CARES strategy from June 2020.

The committee has made 40 recommendations for departmental enquiry oregon enactment for violations of procurement norms successful instrumentality and medicine astatine KSMSCL during COVID-19.

Ventilators from a backstage firm: ‘Outright against nationalist interest’

The D’Cunha Commission besides highlighted different lawsuit wherever orders for ventilators were placed with a backstage steadfast without immoderate ground for the terms fixed.

On March 22, KSMSCL issued a proviso bid to Skanray Technologies India Pvt Ltd for 130 ventilators. The terms per portion was fixed astatine Rs 5 lakh, positive 18 per cent GST, totalling Rs 7.67 lakh. This was astatine a clip erstwhile “ventilators were disposable astatine a outgo of Rs 4 lakh from BEL,” the commission’s study noted. The terms fixed by KSMSCL was “neither quoted by Skanray Technologies nor does it look to beryllium successful conformity with the rates fixed successful the twelvemonth 2017-18 and 2018-19 arsenic decided by the Technical Committee”.

The procurement was recovered to beryllium contrary to the procurement process arsenic ventilators were disposable for a little price. Purchasing them from Skanray “on the look of it has resulted successful the further expenditure of Rs 1.3 crore”, the committee said, calling the procurement “outright against nationalist interest”.

After placing the order, though KSMSCL paid Rs 7.28 crore for the proviso of the full batch of 130 ventilators, Skanray delivered lone 50, for which the committee noted that “the outgo successful respect of 80 ventilators amounting to Rs 4,00,00,000 is amerciable and unjustified”. It has recommended the authorities to retrieve the magnitude from the supplier.