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By:

Rajendra Joshi

3 December 2024 at 3:50:26 am

Procurement first, infrastructure later

Procurement at multiples of market price; equipment before infrastructure; no accountability Kolhapur: Maharashtra’s Medical Education and Public Health Departments have been on an aggressive drive to expand public healthcare infrastructure. Daily announcements of new centres, advanced equipment and expanded services have reassured citizens long denied dependable public healthcare. Procurement of medical equipment, medicines and surgical supplies is reportedly being undertaken at rates two to...

Procurement first, infrastructure later

Procurement at multiples of market price; equipment before infrastructure; no accountability Kolhapur: Maharashtra’s Medical Education and Public Health Departments have been on an aggressive drive to expand public healthcare infrastructure. Daily announcements of new centres, advanced equipment and expanded services have reassured citizens long denied dependable public healthcare. Procurement of medical equipment, medicines and surgical supplies is reportedly being undertaken at rates two to ten times higher than prevailing market prices. Basic economics dictates that bulk government procurement ought to secure better rates than private buyers, not worse. During the Covid-19 pandemic, equipment and consumables were procured at five to ten times the market rate, with government audit reports formally flagging these irregularities. Yet accountability has remained elusive. The pattern is illustrated vividly in Kolhapur. The Dean of Rajarshi Shahu Government Medical College announced that a PET scan machine worth Rs 35 crore would soon be installed at Chhatrapati Pramilaraje (CPR) Government Hospital for cancer diagnosis. But a comparable machine is available in the market for around Rs 6.5 crore. A senior cancer surgeon at a major cancer hospital in western Maharashtra, where a similar machine was recently installed, remarked that the gap between what his hospital paid and what the government is reportedly paying was enough to make one ‘feel dizzy’. The label of a ‘turnkey project’ does not adequately explain a price differential of this magnitude. High Costs CPR Hospital recently had a state-of-the-art IVF centre approved at a sanctioned cost of Rs 7.20 crore. Senior fertility specialists across Maharashtra note that even a modern IVF centre with advanced reproductive technology equipment typically costs between Rs 2.5 crore and Rs 3 crore. The state’s outlay is reportedly approaching Rs 15 crore. Equipment arrived in June 2025 and lay idle for months owing to indecision about the site. Similarly, digital X-ray machines approved for CPR Hospital and a government hospital in Nanded; available in the market for roughly Rs 1.5 crore; were reportedly procured at Rs 9.98 crore per unit. Doctors in CPR’s radiology department, apprehensive about being drawn into potential inquiries, reportedly resisted accepting the equipment. One departmental head was transferred amid disagreements over signing off on the proposal. What’s Wrong These cases point to a deeper structural failure: Maharashtra has perfected what might be called the ‘equipment first, infrastructure later’ model. In any public hospital, the administrative sequence ought to be: identify space, create infrastructure, sanction specialist posts, and only then procure equipment. Compounding the procurement paradox is a parallel policy decision. On 20 December 2025, the state government decided to introduce radiology diagnostic services through a Public-Private Partnership model (PPP). Following this, an order issued on 6 February 2026 authorised private operators to provide PET scan, MRI and CT scan services at six government medical college hospitals: in Pune, Kolhapur, Miraj, Sangli, Mumbai and Baramati. CPR already has a 126-slice CT scan machine and a 3 Tesla MRI scanner, with another CT scan proposed. If the PPP arrangement proceeds, the hospital could simultaneously run one PET scan machine, two MRI scanners and three CT scan machines. Medical experts warn this could lead to unnecessary diagnostic testing simply to keep machines occupied, thus exposing patients to excess radiation while government-owned equipment gathers dust. A similar pattern was seen during the pandemic, when the Medical Education Department spent hundreds of crores on RT-PCR machines, only to award swab-testing contracts to a private company. Many of those machines remain unused today.

'Blot on humanity': Congress condemns Pahalgam terror attack, seeks all-party meeting

  • PTI
  • Apr 23, 2025
  • 3 min read


NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday denounced the terror attack on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam as a blot on humanity and said it should not go "unanswered effectively" while demanding an immediate all-party meeting on the issue.


The Congress also said the government should take accountability instead of making hollow claims about normalcy in the Union Territory.


Terrorists struck a prime tourist location of Pahalgam in south Kashmir on Tuesday, killing at least 26 people and injuring several others, according to officials.


The Congress condemns in the strongest possible terms the dastardly and cowardly terror attack on tourists in Kashmir, party general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said.


"We extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved families and pray for the recovery of those injured."


"This is a time for exhibiting a cohesive collective will. The Union government should immediately call an all-party meeting and take all political parties into confidence. This attack cannot and must not go unanswered effectively," he added.


The Congress' media department head Pawan Khera said, "We urge the government to call an all-party meeting to give concrete shape to the collective resolve to combat terrorism."


Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge also condemned what is the deadliest attack in the valley since the 2019 Pulwama strike.


"I strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack on innocent tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. The entire nation is united in fighting the scourge of cross-border terrorism," Kharge said in a post on X.


"These dastardly targeted attacks are a blot on humanity. News reports indicate that precious lives have been lost. On behalf of the Congress party, my heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured. India's national security is paramount and we urge the government of India to take corrective measures to ensure the same," he said.


Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said the news of tourists being killed and injured in the cowardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam was extremely condemnable and heartbreaking.


"I express my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and hope for the speedy recovery of the injured," he said.


"The whole country is united against terrorism. Instead of making hollow claims on the situation being normal in Jammu and Kashmir, the government should now take accountability and take concrete steps so that such barbaric incidents do not happen in the future and innocent Indians do not lose their lives like this," he said.


Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also denounced the attack as a highly condemnable and shameful act.


"Targeting unarmed and innocent civilians is a crime against humanity. This is completely unacceptable. The whole country stands united against terrorism and strongly condemns it," she said in a post in Hindi on X.


"According to reports, many tourists have been killed in this attack. May God grant peace to the departed souls. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured," she said.


The attack took place around 3 pm when terrorists came down from the mountain in Baisaran valley in Pahalgam and started firing at tourists, who frequent the place which is often dubbed "mini Switzerland" because of its lush green meadows.


The attack came at a time US Vice-President JD Vance is on a four-day visit with his family. He was in Rajasthan on Tuesday.

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