ACB searches at Lok Nayak hospital over substandard supplies

ACB registered an FIR after receiving a complaint that certain hospitals were using low-quality material such as bandages and gauzes to treat patients

A team of the Delhi anti-corruption branch (ACB) on Tuesday visited Lok Nayak hospital — a facility run by the Delhi government — as part of its investigation into alleged “substandard” disposables being used at the hospital, officers aware of the matter said.

Additional commissioner of police Madhur Verma, who heads the ACB, confirmed that a team of investigators visited the hospital on Tuesday and conducted searches, but did not share more details, saying the case is still being probed. (HT Archive)

The officers said ACB registered a first information report (FIR) on January 5 after receiving a complaint that certain hospitals were allegedly using low-quality material such as bandages and gauzes to treat patients. A total of six hospitals are under the scanner in connection with the FIR, they said.

Additional commissioner of police Madhur Verma, who heads the ACB, confirmed that a team of investigators visited the hospital on Tuesday and conducted searches, but did not share more details, saying the case is still being probed.

HT reached out to Lok Nayak hospital, but officials did not comment on the matter. The Delhi government, meanwhile, said the alleged substandard disposables were procured via a central government portal, and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.

An ACB officer aware of the matter, on condition of anonymity, said, “A team visited the hospital and collected records of the procurement and specifications teams, along with the documents. The team was at the hospital for about three hours and will visit other hospitals in the coming days.”

Sharing details of the case, the officer said that the January 5 FIR was based on a complaint by an official from the health and family welfare department, who alleged that six hospitals — Lok Nayak, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Sanjay Gandhi Memorial, Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital, and Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital — were using substandard disposables.

According to the FIR, health department teams visited the hospitals and recovered equipment and samples and sent them to testing labs.

After the report was received, the complaint was submitted with ACB, asking them to initiate a probe and take action against the manufacturing firms and defrauding officials.

The FIR said that the health department report found that cotton bandages, gauzes, rolled bandages and absorbent bandages used at the facilities should have used IS-certified cotton, “but instead Chinese Plastic Wires were being used”. It also accused the manufacturers and traders of working as “cartels” in collusion with public servants.

Responding to the searches, the Delhi government said in a statement, “All the substandard items were bought from the central government portal called GeM. The rules of finance have made it mandatory that government departments should buy products from GeM and only if they are not available on GeM, they can be bought from open market through tenders. It is surprising that central government is allowing such vendors on its portal.”

The statement added, “It is very important that such products are being supplied not just to Delhi government but also to other state governments and the central government. This should be investigated by central agencies like CBI so that it brings out the truth about GeM.”

The development comes days after the Union ministry of home affairs ordered a CBI probe into the alleged supply of substandard medicines to Delhi government hospitals. The MHA order was based on a recommendation for a CBI probe into the matter by lieutenant governor VK Saxena.

The drugs in question were procured by the Central Procurement Agency (CPA), under the Delhi government’s health department, and supplied to various government hospitals. Health minister Saurabh Bharadwaj had welcomed the inquiry but said that the drugs under the scanner were categorised as “not of standard quality”.