New Delhi, January 12
Acting tough after a World Bank revelation about corruption in health sector projects, the government said today that it would set up four groups to probe the charges and warned that those guilty would be punished.
The Centre also said the union health ministry had been working on framing detailed guidelines and modalities to increase and strengthen procurement capacity of states in order to curb corruption in health-care projects.
“Four groups, consisting of members from the finance and health ministries, would be set up to probe the irregularities found by the World Bank in projects dealing with eradication of tuberculosis and malaria and HIV/AIDS control schemes,” union health secretary Naresh Dayal said. “Detailed investigations will be done after we study the report. I can assure you, exemplary action will be taken against those found guilty,” he said.
The government has decided that procurement for projects should be done through the United Nations Organisations of Procurement.
“We are also trying to increase and strengthen the capacity of states for procurement. Detailed guidelines for procurement are being framed by the ministry,” Dayal said.
The health secretary said the government had provided all help to the World Bank in the probe. Based on earlier reports, it had taken a lot of action. “After the first report, procurement from two pharma companies were suspended,” he added.
The projects, in which the World Bank found “significant indicators of fraud and corruption”, are Malaria Control Project, Orissa Health Systems Development Project, Food and Drug Capacity Building Project, Second National HIV/AIDS Control Project and Tuberculosis Control Project.
This is the second time that the World Bank has reported that there was corruption in Indian health sector projects which are aided through international funds.
— PTI
