Congress questions Modi government’s ‘ventilator scam’

As India moves up to the charts of worst hit nations with over seven lakh positive coronavirus cases, the central government's ventilator scam is busted by the congress

1. India's COVID-19 battle becomes tougher, Congress exposes ventilator scam by BJP government

The Congress is raising questions at the purchase of 50,000 ventilators using allocation made from the PM CARES fund.

2. Congress has questioned the delay in purchase of 50,000 ventilators using PM CARES fund

With the graph of novel coronavirus cases in India on the rise, the availability of ventilators is critical. The Centre had announced the purchase of ventilators with Rs 2000 crores from PM CARES fund

3.Centre had announced the purchase of ventilators with Rs.2000 crores from PM CARES fund

These 50,000 ventilators had to be delivered by June 30, the deadline has passed and according to government data only 1340 ventilators have been delivered till June 23.

4. The deadline for delivery of ventilators was June 30 which has passed

Congress spokesperson, Gaurav Vallabh posed five questions to the Government of India over the acquirement of ventilators.

5.Congress has asked 5 questions to the government

Are government and PM CARES separate?

He asked, "Do the 50,000 ventilators ordered through PM CARES include the earlier order of 40,000 ventilators by government or is it separate? As per PMO's release (Annexure-1), only 1340 ventilators have been delivered till June 23, 2020.  We want to know where has the PM Care money gone and why there is a delay in delivery of Ventilators to hospitals?"

6. Where has the PM CARES fund money gone? Why there is delay in delivery of ventilators to hospitals?

The government of India had on March 31 of this year placed orders to procure 30,000 ventilators from Skanray Technologies and 10,000 ventilators from AgVa Healthcare, both domestic manufacturers. An amount of Rs 2,000 crores for the supply of 50,000 ventilators for state-run COVID hospitals was then allocated.

7.Domestic manufacturers were given orders worth Rs 2000 crores for 50,000 ventilators

Pricing of ventilators

"As per PMO's release, per ventilator price comes out as Rs 4,00,000. At the same time, the supplier AgVa Healthcare had quoted a price of Rs 1,50,000 per ventilator. When the ventilator is available at Rs 1,50,000 per piece then why PM CARES had allocated Rs 4,00,000 per ventilator? Where is this extra money going?" Congress asked

8. PMO's release quoted price per ventilator as Rs. 4,00000 while manufacturer had quoted Rs. 1,50, 000 as price per ventilator

Allocation of orders

Vallabh went further to raise the question, "Had PM CARES fund opted for open tendering and competitive bidding process before giving final order to these suppliers?"

9.Had PM CARES opted for open tendering and competitive bidding process?,asked Congress

  Quality of ventilators

"Why Government is compromising the health of lakhs of patients with sub-standard equipment's at such a critical time?" Congress asked as a panel of medical experts who had asserted that ventilators provided by AgVa Healthcare are of sub-standard quality.

10. Why government is compromising the health of patients with sub-standard equipments?

While Congress raised serous questions, experts revealed that no tender has been issued for the ventilators since May 14. The Centre had allocated Rs 2,000 crores from the PM CARES fund for this purpose.

11. No tender has been issued for the ventilators since May 14

Ventilator manufacturers are now seeking a nod from the Centre to export their products at a time when hospitals in India are running out of ICU beds.

12. The hospitals are running out of ICU beds while ventilators are waiting for a nod from the Centre.