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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.

The eternal joy of sharing a saree

Pune's ‘Aapalee’- The Saree Library is one of its kind that celebrates sarees by making them accessible to everyone

“Many women love sarees but don’t always have access to them or they find it inconvenient to wear them often. This thought was a trigger point to create Aapalee - The Saree Library — a space that celebrates sarees and makes them accessible to everyone,” says Pune based Pallavi Deshpande who at the age of 38 years, runs a business of renting out a wide range of sarees. Deshpande believes that women must wear sarees and enjoy the process without any hustle which seems difficult in today’s world in which everyone wants fast fashion and quick availability of resources.


Deshpande’s love for sarees started at home watching her mother and grandmother drape sarees every day. Over the years, from being just a type of attire, sarees transformed into a strong connection to memories, stories, and identity. “One moment that stands out was when a friend borrowed a saree for her special event from my personal collection and said it made her feel truly herself. That simple joy of sharing sparked the realisation that sarees are meant to be worn, celebrated, and circulated — not just stored away. That thought planted the first seed for Aapalee,” said Deshpande.


Deshpande has transformed the third floor of her bungalow located in Pune’s Nigdi where she stays with her in-laws, husband and her 6-year-old son into a saree renting studio.


While her favourite saree type is a handwoven pure silk Paithani from her wedding collection— she explains how the saree type itself was a great trigger point for her to start this business. She said, “it represents the perfect blend of tradition, craftsmanship, and timeless beauty. It reminds me why I started this journey — to keep these weaves alive and accessible.”


Deshpande runs the business with her partner, Amruta Kanetkar who comes from a makeup industry and styling background, which perfectly complements her creative and communication skills.


While the business idea is not the first of its kind in India, what sets Deshpande’s Apalee apart from other businesses is its initiative of building a saree community. Deshpande said, “I have started with my friends and family. We all women possess heavy and expensive sarees that we end up wearing only once in 20 years. Women bring their sarees to our studio. We study the quality and decide the price of rent. When that saree goes on rent, we pay 20 percent of what we earned through that saree to the owner of the saree. This particular idea has got a lot of encouragement. This way, we have involved other women in our business who get an opportunity to earn money by sharing their sarees with us.”


Aapalee offers a range of services. Firstly, it has over 400 sarees of different varieties from Kanjeevaram to Paithani to Georgette to many more that they give on rent. Besides, they also provide ready-towear already draped sarees for college going girls for a one-time occasion. Many women even get their own saree draped at the studio.


Deshpande quit a very high paying stable job to start this business. Deshpande who was raised in Gwalior of Madhya Pradesh, finished her BSC in electronics in Gwalior and moved to Pune for Higher studies. There she completed MBA in marketing and has over 15 years of experience in handling projects at companies such as Cap Gemini, Accenture and a couple of financial institutions. She quit as an assistant project manager at JP Morgan Chase earlier this year and started this business of saree renting in July 2025. Deshpande said, “We’re still in our early stages, so our focus right now is more on building the community, curating quality sarees, and refining our services. But yes, the response has been very encouraging. For us, the biggest success is the emotional connection people are forming with Aapalee — the profits will naturally follow.”


Having said that, Deshpande believes if you identify what you truly enjoy doing, and have family support, nothing can stop you from chasing a dream, as long as you have meticulously planned your finances.

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