The lure of lucre might have been the reason why the administration of BRD Medical College and Hospital in Gorakhpur held back the payment of over Rs 68 lakh of an oxygen gas firm which resulted in tragic death of scores of children in the hospital.
Sources claimed that the payment to the company supplying oxygen was delayed because hospital has asked for a bigger commission to clear the bills.
The lucknow based Pushpa Sales Pvt ltd had repeatedly written letters to the hospital administration to clear its dues of Rs 68 lakh but it was not cleared as hospital was asking for more commission this year as compared to last year, sources said.
A senior official of the company told this reporter that there was an unwritten understanding that the company will pay 10 per cent commission of the total billing. But this year the hospital administration was asking for 12 per cent commission.
“This was a huge amount which we refused to part with. We argued that during monsoon number of encephalitis cases goes up, leading to more supply of liquid oxygen tanks and hefty commission to officials,” the officer said. As the payments were delayed, the company wrote to District Magistrate, Gorakhpur on June 3with a request to clear it at the earliest. Sources said the DM had spoken to the Hospital administration about it and the principal claimed to have assured the DM that he would look into the matter.
The company had also written to the DG Health on April 12 when the dues were Rs 55 lakh. A legal notice was also served to BRD College on July 30 but the hospital administration did not reply.
In a Press conference, Medical Education Minister Ashutosh Tandon confirmed that arrear of Pushpa Sales has gone up to Rs 68. 65 lakh and questioned as why the Hospital did not made the payment wh-en DG Health had sent Rs 4 cro-re to the BRD Medical college.
“We wrote several letters to hospital administration and Government officials in last six months, but the payments were not cleared because we refused to pay 12 per cent commission,” the official said.
The BRD Medical College has its own oxygen plant which has a 12,000 litre tank. On an average the hospital required 8,000 litre oxygen per week.