An alleged pre-dated work order issued for the development, operation, maintenance and management of Positron Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography (PET -CT) equipment under a public-private partnership (PPP) at the State-run Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology is being scrutinised.
Following allegations that the work order was issued by incumbent director V. Lokesh two months ahead of assuming charge in October last year, the Medical Education Department has now ordered a probe into the matter. Dr. Lokesh, however, said it was a “fabricated document.”
A digital whole body PET-CT scan is vital for cancer diagnosis, staging and for management of cancer. The scan is expensive, costing over ₹24,000 in private diagnostic centres. More than 20,000 new patients are seen at Kidwai every year with an annual follow-up caseload of over 3.5 lakh.
Tenders for PET -CT scan under PPP were floated in December 2021 during the previous director C. Ramachandra’s tenure and M/s Bangalore Medical System (BMS), who was the lowest bidder, was allotted the tender. The agreement was signed on July 5, 2022, between the then director and BMS. Dr Ramachandra’s tenure ended on October 17, 2022, and Dr. Lokesh assumed charge the same day.
However, documents obtained through RTI by a staff member of Kidwai, who did not want to be named, showed that Dr. Lokesh issued the work order on August 18, 2022, two months before he took charge as director. The PET-CT scan centre started functioning on March 6 this year and has so far done 3,000 scans.
Probe
Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil told The Hindu that an enquiry had been ordered into the issue. “I have asked the Director of Medical Education (DME) to get a detailed explanation from Dr. Lokesh,” he said, adding that the director has been asked to place the subject in the next Finance Committee meeting.
Sources claimed a pre-dated work order was issued to benefit the vendor (BMS). Besides, the original tender conditions have also been tweaked to benefit the vendor.
“As per the agreement between Kidwai and the vendor, the diagnostic centre (BMS) is permitted to charge ₹ 7,200 per scan for AB-ArK patients and ₹ 9,200 for outside patients. BMS has to reduce the charges by ₹ 400 for every patient after 25 cases in a day. But this is not happening. Manpower including doctors, nurses, technicians and group ‘D’ employees should be provided by the vendor but Kidwai staff have been deputed at the centre,” sources alleged.
Charges denied
However, Dr. Lokesh denied the allegations and claimed that he issued the work order on December 9, 2022, after obtaining the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) approval. Alleging that the pre-dated work order was a “‘fabricated document,” he said it was the handiwork of some “disgruntled” staffers.
He alleged that the confusion was created by the former Financial Advisor Venugopal Reddy, who retired on June 30 this year.
“On his last day of work, he provided a mix-up of documents to the Principal Secretary (Medical Education) which gave an impression that the work orders were signed on August 18, 2022. This is a total misrepresentation of facts. An unsigned draft work order (dated August 18) was kept prepared after the receipt of agreement in the PET-CT file and the same has been misrepresented as a pre-dated document signed by me,” he said. He has offered the same explanation in his clarification to the DME.
