Govt paid ₹4.5cr for work not done, NGO tells DVAC

Govt paid ₹4.5cr for work not done, NGO tells DVAC

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:02.05.2021

Chennai based anticorruption NGO Arappor Iyakkam has filed a complaint with the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC) charging that the state health department made an irregular payment of ₹4.5 crore to a contractor who did not deliver a health management information system.

The health management information system was supposed to have improved features of integrated patient record and live dashboards among others. The contract was awarded in May 2017.

A senior health department official said the contractor had completed a portion of the work and was paid money for that. “Every aspect has been documented properly and passed through a committee,” the official said, denying the allegations.

According to documents submitted by Arappor to the DVAC, the contractor was the sole bidder as the only other participant did not qualify in the prequalification criteria. The agreement was signed for ₹17 crore. The software was to be delivered by April 2018 and the contract included maintenance for four years there after.

Quoting official documents, Arappor said nothing was delivered till April 2018 and even pilot runs done in Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and Government Royapettah hospital were failures. Doctors shared feedback on how cut and paste MIS charts from the election department and weather department were used to cheat the hospital, Arappor said.

The National Health Mission had issued a show-cause notice to the contractor in September 2019 and stated that not even 10% of the work assigned was done. A termination order was issued in December that year. However, then health secretary Beela Rajesh wrote to the NHM in February 2020 to reconsider the termination. Another opportunity was given to the contractor and by July 2020, the work was not completed.

“Despite this, the tender was not cancelled and a note was circulated to pay them ₹4.5 crore with false claims of completion,” JayaramVenkatesan, convenor of Arappor Iyakkam, said in the complaint to DVAC.

This is why we have not been able to see live dashboards of bed availability, Jayaram said.

Arppor Iyakkam, in its complaint to DVAC, said the state health department paid ₹4.5 crore to a contractor who failed to deliver a health management software