Stung by the allegation that inferior quality sarees were purchased by the health department for distribution among ASHA workers, the Director-General of Health Services has asked the Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) to cross-check the sarees which were distributed with samples provided by the manufacturer.
The health department had purchased a big consignment of sarees for 12,000 ASHA workers of the State. The Government had earmarked a budget of Rs1,000 per ASHA worker in which a saree, an apron and an umbrella were to be purchased. Interestingly, the Sarees were purchased at the level of health directorate and a Director level officer was at helm of purchasing committee.
Some of the ASHA workers complained about the inferior quality of Sarees and said that the stuff is so poor that it is better not to wear them. When contacted, the Director General (DG) of health services, Dr Kusum Narriyal told The Pioneer that all the CMOs have been directed to match the Sarees collected through random sampling process by the procurement team with those which were distributed to ASHA workers. She said that further course of action would be taken after the reports of CMOs arrive. Dr Narriyal however defended the entire process of procurement and said that everything was done as per the norms. “The team visited the factory of the Saree manufacturer and handpicked many Sarees randomly for sampling. These samples are with us. It is mentioned in the provisions of the tender that the manufacturer would replace the Sarees if found defective,’’ she said.
The health department is in eye of the storm for many scams in the recent past. The department was rocked by taxi scam, medicine and equipment purchase irregularities and scam in appointments of some candidates under National Health Mission (NHM). The former DG, Dr R P Bhatt is already under scope of an inquiry ordered by state health minister which would look into the appointments made under NHM in Dehradun district when he was the CMO of Dehradun district. The Health minister has also taken an exception in the Taxi scam case where no action is taken against those found guilty. In the scam, fake fuel bills were submitted by the taxi operators on whom large amount of money was paid.