Kerala Health Minister denies allegations of corruption in drug procurement

Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Wednesday denied the opposition Congress allegations of corruption in the procurement of medicines by the staterun Medical Services Corporation The minister also said that neither Medical Services Corporation KMCL nor the government hospitals were providing expired medicines to patients or the general publicShe was responding to the allegations by the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly V D Satheesan who on Tuesday had cited a CAG report and charged that certain medicines were procured without examining their quality and 26 hospitals were given medicines which were past their expiry dateDenying the same George said that CAG had sent a draft report seeking the response of the government on the issue She claimed that a performance audit was conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General CAG and in connection with that it has sought a response from the governmentThe performance audit of the health services was conducted for the financial years from 201617 to 202122 the minister said It is not a final finding or report George clarified while speaking to reporters hereThe minister said that on receiving the CAG report the Principal Secretary Health sent it to the Kerala Medical Services Corporation and the Directorate of Health Services and sought their repliesThe minister said when she went through the report what she saw was that it was probable that expired medicines were given to hospitalsHowever neither KMCL nor the government hospitals are giving expired medicines to the patients she addedGeorge further said that someone in the position of Leader of Opposition ought not to have made such remarks as a large majority of the public approaches government hospitals for treatment and medicinesIt was wrong on his LoPs part to make such allegations as it would create fear and apprehension in the minds of the people What I understand is that he did not act like an opposition leader she saidThe minister also alleged that substandard medicines with short shelf life were procured in huge quantities during the last UDF government and the same were dumped in warehouses across the state instead of being destroyedResponding to the contentions of the state Health Minister Satheesan said she need not teach him how he should raise allegations and that her statements were highly irresponsibleWhen opposition raises allegations straight answers need to be given instead of teaching us how to raise allegationsThe opposition has filed a complaint before the Lok Ayukta on the loot in procuring medicines during the COVID19 pandemic and also pointed out the same in writing in the state Assembly the LoP said hitting back at GeorgeSatheesan claimed that according to the CAGs preliminary finding expired medicines were given to 26 hospitals 483 hospitals were given the medicines which were kept aside from distribution due to lack of quality and drugs against which stop memos were issued were given to 148 hospitals So should we not question it We are giving these medicines to our children also he saidRegarding the ministers allegation that medicines with short shelf life were procured during UDF rule Satheesan said that it has been seven years since UDF lost power and if such medicines came into possession of KMCL there are guidelines on disposing them ofThose medicines can be returned to the manufacturing companies and a refund and fine can be obtained from them Instead of doing that for the last seven years they were holding on to these medicines he saidIntensifying his allegations Satheesan said when tenders are invited the pharmaceutical companies that win the bid supply medicines which have expired or are about to expireThey charge only a fraction of the bid amount for the same and the remaining comes back as commission to the government It goes into a magic box he allegedThe LoP further alleged that the quality of medicines is not checked when each batch comes and drugs of many companies are never inspectedThis is the gravest form of corruption as it involves medicines to be given to the common people Therefore the reply of the minister is highly irresponsible he contendedOnce these medicines expire their molecular combination changes and can affect the health of people the Congress leader allegedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever