Additional expense of Rs 10.2 cr by Kerala to buy PPE kit during Covid: CAG

Kerala's purchase of PPE kits during the Covid-19 pandemic has come under scrutiny, with a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report revealing an additional expenditure of Rs 10.23 crore.

The report states that the Kerala government accorded special sanctions to the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL) to procure PPE kits, N95 masks, and other essential commodities in March 2020.

Despite having prescribed unit rates for PPE kits at Rs 545 to control prices, the government procured kits at much higher rates, up to 300 per cent above the unit rate, in March and April 2020. This led to significant additional expenditure, the CAG report stated.

CAG report also said that undue favours were given to San Pharma company, which offered to supply PPE kits at the highest rate of Rs 1.550 per unit, as 100 per cent of purchase value was paid as advance to this company.

The Covid-19 pandemic was one of the worst pandemics in the history of mankind with more than 70 lakh deaths reported all over the world, as per the World Health Organisation.

India was also severely affected by the pandemic with more than 500,000 deaths, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

India successfully developed and launched a nationwide vaccination campaign.

PM Modi has hailed this achievement on multiple occassions, emphasising the country's growing health infrastructure.

"Some people claimed that it would take years for India to administer the Covid-19 vaccine. However, we conducted the biggest vaccination programme and everyone was inoculated in record time." PM Modi said.