With a rise in allegations of corruption and irregularities worth crores of rupees in purchases of medical equipment in state government hospitals, the state government has appointed Praveen Dixit as the Chairman of a state level purchasing committee. This is the first time an IPS officer has been appointed to a post that was almost always given to doctors.
This post was specially created for Dixit – a former Maharashtra DGP, who rose to fame when he was heading the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau, for his initiative to name and shame accused in corruption cases on social media.
Dixit was chosen to head the newlyformed committee, because he is known for his honesty and fairness. The committee has been tasked to monitor tenders and offers submitted by medical equipment manufacturing companies, and bring transparency to the process.
It was in the month of January, during a joint meeting between Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Medical Education minister Girish Mahajan and other DMER officials when the concern for rising discrepancies was raised. Various procedures and stringent rules are in place for purchasing of medical equipment, despite which the entire process lacks transparency. Distributors from various major medical device companies were allegedly charging exorbitant sums on various equipment, even though a tendering system was in place One of the senior officers in DMER spoke to Mirror, he said, “Since he is one of the most honest and non-corrupt officer, no one even dares to question his decision. There were several instances of gross negligence that he had discovered in purchasing. Now even politicians don’t interfere.”
Praveen Shingare, director, DMER said, “Since March we have bought equipment worth Rs 125 crore under former DGP Praveen Dixit’s monitoring.”
Dr. Sanjay Oak, former dean, KEM hospital, who is also on the committee said, “There were many vendors who quoted extremely high figures; some were even charging double the market price. We have managed to save atleast Rs 4 crore on the overall purchase of 125 crore.”
Praveen Dixit will oversee procurement for 16 medical colleges and 3 dental colleges in the state that are under DMER. “My first priority was to process medical equipment that was required by the Medical Council of India for these colleges and secondly buying good equipment in affordable rates,” he said.
When asked how he plans to deal with corruption in the department, he said, “I think ever since I have taken charge, the suppliers themselves have stopped meddling.”
