Dengue: Punjab Govt fails to repair critical equipment

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 14

As dengue cases are on the rise, the state government has delayed the repair and maintenance of its huge inventory for months, including the critical apheresis machines that separate platelets from blood.

While the Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) of the healthcare inventory expired on June 30, the new AMC contract is yet to be initiated. The floating of tenders for the new contract was delayed until September, when dengue cases were at the peak. Senior health officials, however, said blanket approvals were given for repair of apheresis machines.

Tenders floated, ops to resume this month

The new price bid for the contract has been opened and will be started this month… The previous firm assured us that it will extend the project, but posed new terms, which didn’t suit us. —Dr Sharandeep Sidhu, Director, Procurement, Punjab health systems corpn

Continued services for 40 extra days

The government gave us the project in July 2016. It expired in June this year. We continued services for 40 more days, but eventually we had to pay the salaries of 70-90 engineers. With no contract, we had to bow out. —Kiran Anand, Director, Biostar

The delay in the repair and maintenance of the critical inventory cost thousands of patients exorbitant money for the same healthcare treatment (including for platelet donation) from private hospitals and blood banks, which could have been conducted at civil hospitals at much subsidised rates.

As per the health department, there are 12 apheresis machines at various government hospitals in the state. Many of these remained defunct and some were put up for repair or maintenance only recently after dengue figures saw a historic spike.

The entire repair and maintenance of the healthcare inventory of the state government, under an Annual Maintenance Contract, is handed to a single company. The last contract was given to Biostar in July 2016 and it expired on June 30, 2021.

Biostar officials maintain that they waited for 40 days for an extension of the contract and finally withdrew services in July end after the state government did not renew the contract.

While Biostar was providing repair and maintenance for 415 government hospitals, including primary healthcare-level facilities, the total inventory amounted to at least 20,000 big and small equipment from blood pressure monitors and weighing machines to ultrasound machines, apheresis machines, X-ray machines, CR systems, ventilators, defibrilators, ECG machines and radiant baby warmers (violet therapies), etc.

Surabhi Malik, Managing Director, Punjab Health Systems Corporation, said she would look into the matter.

Meanwhile, Vikas Garg, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, said: “The new tenders for the annual maintenance contract have been issued. Blanket approvals were given for the repair of apheresis machines. There were problems with only two machines — one in Jalandhar and the other in Mohali.”

On being questioned, he didn’t give any reason for the delay in tender issuance.