The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences here has submitted before the Central Information Commission that in procurement of maternal neo-natal care equipment, high quality Indian and foreign manufactured equipment is often left out of the league as they are competing with their cheaper counterparts.
The submission was made by Dr. Vinod Paul, representing the AIIMS Director in a case filed by a Delhi resident, Anushree Jain, who had demanded that the Secretary, Union Ministry of Health, be directed to publish on its website the procurement and the maintenance schedules of hospital equipment.
Ms. Jain had contended that there have been innumerable cases wherein incubators meant for infants catch fire resulting in the death of infants.
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In his submission, Dr. Paul said, “The issue is that the equipment at the foremost should be the appropriate equipment and there is no regulation at that point.”
He also submitted that the National Rural Health Mission has provided funds to State Governments to procure maternal neo-natal care equipment at facilities to reduce infant and maternal mortality. However, he stated that during the bidding processes high quality Indian and foreign manufactured equipments lose out to their cheaper counterparts.
“There are no standards for such equipments and no regulation barring entry of unsafe, non-standard equipment into the market. Faulty equipment can end up burning itself and the baby it holds. There are fundamental flaws in these procurement procedures,” said Dr. Paul. He also suggested that there has to be standards made, regulations established to ensure that only standardised equipment can be put to use in hospitals.
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The senior AIIMS doctor said, “there was a Medical Devices Regulatory Authority Bill circulated in the year 2006, but we have not seen any movement in this regard.” He further stated that the names of the manufacturers of the equipments which have already burnt should be put on the website of the department.
In his observation in the matter, Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi said, “the Commission is of the opinion that it is accepted that there are widespread issues, putting up information in the public domain would perhaps create a pressure on the concerned authorities.”
Mr. Gandhi said, “officers monitoring these equipments also have a wide task ahead of them, the idea of the Commission being that the information published would get the citizens at large to view the same and inform the concerned superior authorities in case of any mismanagement.”
Dr. Sidhartha Satpathy representing the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences stated that there are established quality standards for equipments used for patient care in some developed countries.
He said the equipments manufactured in the United States of America and the European Union generally conform to good quality standards. However, in India any person can start distributing medical equipments, as there is no law specifying standards.
Holding that transparency would bring positive changes since thousands of citizens would help in monitoring and bringing about better accountability, Mr. Gandhi directed that the list of equipment costing above Rs 1 lakh and including Incubators and Neo-Natal Radiant Warmers purchased on or after April 1, 2007 would be displayed on the website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and respective departmental and hospital websites.
This list would also be updated on the 10th of each month and a signboard of appropriate dimension would also be installed by these departments or hospitals mentioning that details of procurement and maintenance of such equipment are available on the website.