New Delhi: Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Friday requested the Central government to suspend two senior health officials to allow an “impartial inquiry” into the alleged supply of substandard drugs to Delhi government-run hospitals.
“Why is the BJP-ruled Centre trying to save Health Secretary S.B. Deepak Kumar and then DGHS [Directorate General of Health Services] chief Nutan Mundeja?” Mr. Bharadwaj said while addressing a press conference.
“Could an investigation ordered now be impartial given that the officer responsible for the audit is himself implicated in the matter?” he added.
The Directorate of Vigilance, in a report submitted to Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena on December 5, had stated that some medicine samples collected from three Delhi government-run hospitals — the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences, Lok Nayak Hospital, and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital — had turned out to be spurious.
Following this, Mr. Saxena recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation probe in the supply of the drugs to the hospitals. In response, Mr. Bharadwaj had demanded the Health Secretary’s suspension.
On Wednesday, Raj Niwas sources said another drug sample — sodium valproate, an anti-epilepsy medication — collected from a Delhi government hospital had failed the quality test.
On the same day, the BJP held a protest outside the AAP headquarters over the issue.
On Friday, Mr. Bharadwaj said he had on March 21 ordered the Health Secretary and the then DGHS to audit medicines, equipment, and consumables purchased for the Delhi government hospitals.
“The orders and decisions taken during this meeting, along with the minutes of the meeting, were published on April 3. However, the Health Secretary did not initiate an audit into the procurement of medicines,” the Minister said.
Mr. Bharadwaj added that he had issued a reminder to the Health Secretary in July. However, no action was taken.
“It appears that the Health Secretary was unwilling to conduct an audit of the procurement of medicines, and if there were any irregularities in the procurement, he did not want them to come to light,” the Minister said.
Taking suo motu cognisance of reports about the samples of Sodium Valproate failing the quality test, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday issued a notice to the authorities concerned, the Commission said in a statement.
