Punjab: CAG report blows the lid off lapses in medicine purchase

Drugs having shorter shelf life procured for govt health institutions of the state under e-Aushadhi system

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report for 2017-18 has revealed glaring lapses in the procurement of medicines by Punjab under the e-Aushadhi system.

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Introduced in 2014, e-Aushadhi is a web-based supply chain management system which deals with the purchase, inventory management and distribution of drugs and consumables to the health institutions of the state.

The report tabled in the Vidhan Sabha on Thursday pointed out that drugs with shorter shelf life were procured and samples were sent for testing after a delay of more than a year. The report says that 1,324 samples of medicines were sent to the Central Quality Control Cell 412 days after procurement and the report was received after 315 days. This showed that the e-Aushadhi system of procuring medicines was not robust and lack of internal control diluted the quality assurance for drugs testing, says the report.

As per state drug policy 2012-13 and terms and conditions of rate contracts, the material (medicines) supplied should have five-sixth shelf life remaining at the time of the delivery. The CAG report, however, revealed that in 1,424 out of 13,322 instances, the drugs were accepted with a shorter shelf life though the system had an inbuilt feature for giving alerts regarding the same.

“The suppliers were given undue advantage by contravening terms and conditions of the rate contracts. In six out of 32 cases checked randomly, drugs declared ‘not of standard quality’ as per the laboratory report were found activated in the system and these were also issued (February 2015 to March 2018) to the health institutions,” says the CAG report.

As many as 2,02,454 tablets/injections were issued to various health institutions prior to receipt of quality test reports from laboratories, posing a serious threat to the life of patients, points out the CAG report.

‘NO PROPER HOUSING FACILITY FOR COPS’

The report found that police had not prepared comprehensive strategic plan and adequate funds for buildings were not provided by the state government.

“At least 25% of the police stations were functioning in dilapidated buildings and infrastructural facilities were not available in 14 inspected police stations. The state could achieve only 16% satisfaction level in providing accommodation to police personnel against 100% as recommended by the National Police Commission,” the report said.

Against 55,365 cops on duty in 2017, only 9,018 family quarters were available of which 1,546 were in dilapidated condition, found the report.