The perennial problem of delay in the arrival of budget is affecting the working of the Doon Hospital with the hospital authorities owing more than Rs 5 cr to its various vendors. It is learnt that many vendors have expressed their inability to supply their products if their pending payments are not cleared soon.
The annual budget of the biggest hospital of the State is Rs 14 cr. The health department since the last year has followed the practice of releasing quarterly installments to the hospitals. The Doon hospital has received only an amount of Rs 5.25 cr from the department despite of the fact that the third quarter is about to end soon.
It is learnt that the pending payments of the vendors supplying medicines, food, fuel, reagents, equipments and the Uttarakhand Power Corporation limited (UPCl) have already crossed the figure of Rs 4 cr. It is worth mentioning here that last year some of the vendors stopped their supplies and the UPCl threatened to snap the power supply in the absence of payments. This time, however, the cause of relief is that despite constant threatening none of the vendors has actually stopped the services yet.
The Doon hospital has to pay the salaries of the contractual heath, sanitation and paramedic staffs also. There are about 75 contractual sanitation employees and 19 contractual security personnel whose salaries the hospital administration pays. The expense in salaries of the contractual staff is about Rs 15 lakh per month.
One of the senior officials associated with hospital administration said that according to the provisions the budget should be sent before the start of the quarter but the hospital is getting it at the end. He said that the hospital has provided the UC of the budget within days of the arrival of second installment of budget.