The State government entered into an agreement with GVK-EMRI in 2008 for a period of 10 years on a PPP model. Although the company’s agreement with the government has ended, new tenders for the service are yet to be finalised.
On July 14, 2017, the Health Department terminated its nine-year association with the company citing irregularities and violation of tender conditions.
While the department had invited tenders for a new service provider, the company approached the High Court of Karnataka challenging the termination of their service before the expiry of their 10-year contract period.
The company also contended that in the fresh tenders, the conditions were such that GVK was unable to participate.
The High Court ruled that the company should be allowed to participate in the tender process.
Subsequently, in December 2017 the department relaxed the tender conditions citing poor response to the tenders (only two bidders had participated).
After this, GVK-EMRI was asked to continue providing services till January 31, 2018.
Thereafter, the re-tendering process was further delayed due to Assembly elections in 2019 and COVID-19. The company was again asked to continue till further orders.
Health and Medical Education Minster K. Sudhakar, who asserted that GVK-EMRI’s services have not been satisfactory, said new tenders have been floated.
“We can expect a new vendor with enhanced services within one month. The new service will have the latest technical features and will be a model in the entire country,” he said.
