Faced with allegations by the Congress of misappropriation in purchase of ventilators and other equipment related to COVID-19, the State government has maintained that prices of equipment were much higher in March because of short supply and high demand.
Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan and Health and Family Welfare Minister B. Sriramulu said at a press conference that prices for masks, sanitiser, ventilators, and PPE kits were much higher in March owing to high demand for equipment which were largely supplied from China. Now many domestic companies manufacture PPE kits, ventilators, and sanitisers and prices have reduced drastically, they claimed.
They termed Congress allegations as “far from the truth and baseless.”
‘Not available’
“In March, because of non-manufacturing of COVID-19 items and because of lockdown, all equipment were not available in the market. The Karnataka State Drugs Logistics and Warehousing Society (KSDLWS) was directed to contact suppliers and obtain whatever items are available with them. Whatever little was available in the market was bought after negotiating prices,” Mr. Sriramulu said and offered to resign from the Cabinet if any lapses were found in the purchases.
Price of PPE kit
The price of a PPE kit reduced from ₹1,444.8 in March to ₹575 in July, while IR thermal scanner price reduced from ₹5,945 in March to ₹1,242 in July, he claimed. Similarly, hand sanitiser price has fallen from ₹250 in March to ₹100 in July for a 500 ml bottle. The price of the rapid test kit reduced from ₹699 in March to ₹450 in July.
Congress leaders have been alleging misappropriation in the purchase of equipment. Mr. Ashwath Narayan claimed that by levelling “baseless charges”, Congress leaders have been “creating a sense of fear” among the officials to derail the administration. There were only 11 firms manufacturing sanitisers in the State in March against 111 in July, he said.
“Over a period of time the supply started increasing. This helped in bringing down the prices. The prices started falling down from May,” Mr. Sriramulu said.
“The price of ventilators vary from ₹4-5 lakh to ₹50-60 lakh. It depends on the technical parameters, the purposes that it serves as well as the brand. KSDLWS has bought only the basic ventilator, which was sufficient to take care of COVID-19 patients,” he said.
The government placed orders for 158 ventilators, including 28 higher specification ICU Ventilators. Media reports claiming purchase of 200 ventilators at ₹18.2 lakh was “false” and the total expenditure incurred was ₹10.61 crore, they said.
Specific request
Based on the request from a few hospitals, 28 medium and high-end ventilators were procured with accessories and three years warranty. Many of these have been bought at ₹11-12 lakh, and there was only one high-end ventilator, which is priced at ₹18.2 lakh.
This was brought based on the specific request of Jayanagar General Hospital, Bengaluru, Mr. Sriramulu said.
