Citing the CAG report, Congress leader Satheesan also alleged that certain medicines were procured without examining their quality.
Kerala Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan. (Facebook)
The Opposition Congress in Kerala on Tuesday, 24 October, raised corruption allegations against the state Health Department and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in connection with procuring medicines by the Medical Services Corporation.
This is the second time in a month that the department, headed by Health Minister Veena George, has come under Opposition attack.
Addressing the media in Kochi, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly VD Satheesan, citing a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, alleged that certain medicines were procured without examining their quality and 26 hospitals were given medicines which were past their expiry date.
The Health Department is yet to react to the allegations.
The Congress leader alleged that medicines past their expiry date were being distributed to the public through the Medical Services Corporation.
“Expired medicines were given to 26 hospitals. Meanwhile, 483 hospitals were given the medicines which were kept aside from distribution due to lack of quality,” he charged.
He also alleged that pharmaceutical companies were selling medicines nearing the expiry date to the government at a much cheaper price than the market rate.
“The Medical Services Corporation is purchasing medicines nearing expiry date and giving them to the common man in the state. Once the medicine is past the expiry date, its molecular combination changes and can affect the health of people,” the Congress leader alleged.
He alleged that most of these purchases were approved by the chief minister or the health minister.
Satheesan also claimed there were no quality checks on the medicines and sought an investigation into the issue by an independent agency.
Earlier in the month, two people, including the suspected kingpin in the alleged job fraud and bribery charges against a personal staff member of Health Minister George were caught from Theni in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
Akhil Sajeev had been absconding ever since the bribery charges cropped up. It has been alleged that money was paid for the appointment of a medical officer recently.
The health minister’s office had rejected the allegations against the personal staff member, Akhil Mathew, and complained to the Thiruvananthapuram city police, seeking a detailed probe into the allegation.
The alleged job fraud, in connection with appointments under the Health Department, came up recently after Haridasan, a Malappuram native, said that Mathew, a personal staff member of the health minister, accepted a bribe from him for the appointment of his daughter-in-law as a medical officer.
He was arrested for allegedly creating a fake email related to temporary appointments in the Ayush Mission, the police said.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had earlier said the health minister’s private secretary and staff members, who were facing the allegations, had themselves lodged separate police complaints in this regard.
Haridasan had alleged that a personal staff member of the minister took ₹1 lakh as a bribe for the appointment of his daughter-in-law as a government medical officer.
Haridasan had further charged that a former office secretary of CITU in Pathanamthitta, who allegedly acted as a middleman, had also accepted a bribe for the said appointment. However, his daughter-in-law didn’t get the job.
As the allegations triggered a huge political row in the state, Mathew approached the police, seeking a probe into the matter. The police registered an FIR under IPC sections 419 and 420 (cheating) based on the complaint by Mathew.
Terming the bribery charges against the health minister’s staff as “serious”, the Opposition Congress had said corruption was thriving in all government departments in the state.
Rejecting the allegations, the health minister’s office earlier said a complaint has been forwarded to the DGP for a detailed inquiry into the matter.
Minister George also came out strongly against it and said that based on the complaint received, she sought an explanation from the accused personal staff member.
She also said she never tried to cover up the complaint when she received it.
“When I received such a complaint, as a minister, what I did first was… seek an explanation from my staff member against whom the charge was levelled. It was part of the investigation I conducted in my office about the issue,” she told reporters in Kannur.
(With PTI inputs)
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