SHILLONG, July 10: A string of non-starter projects of the Health department, lying unutilised months after their launching, have resulted in a sheer waste of public money amounting to crores of rupees.
These healthcare projects, which were formally opened by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister James PK Sangma, are either virtually abandoned, botched or nonfunctional since inception. For, there are no takers.
An investigating team of The Shillong Times reporters found colossal wastage of precious funds in the name of creation of health infrastructure.
Take the case of the multi-disciplinary investigation centre at Pasteur Institute, Lawmali Pyllun which was inaugurated by James Sangma on January 21 this year. Since then it has remained in moribund state and nobody in the hierarchy seems to be bothered to make it functional.
The fact of the case is that the state government in June 2019 had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Suraksha & Salvia Global LLP for setting up a state-of-the-art diagnostic centre under public-private partnership mode.
Costing Rs 100 crore, this ambitious project was touted as a one-stop shop for pathological investigations, X-ray and many more. However, it has not only remained inoperative from day-one but also was formally declared open even before it was fully readied.
When the ST team visited the institute on July 8, it was found that the pathology department was yet to be commissioned. It was claimed that once it is commissioned it will be the largest and most advanced diagnostic centre in the entire Northeast after the radiology and other units become functional.
Christopher Rani from the Salvia Designated Partners had earlier said that the centre had the most sophisticated and advanced equipment to conduct the tests for viral infections, maternal health, molecular screening, neonatal screening and also the test related to transplants that can facilitate ultra modern set up.
According to Rani, the equipment at the centre have been procured from Sweden and Japan.
During the visit to the centre, it was found to be wearing a desolate look devoid of patients. The centre has 19 employees, both technical and non-technical, who were being paid for no work.
When asked as to why there are no patients, one of the staff said that the people were not aware of the existence of Suraksha Diagnostic Centre.
Sheepishly, they said they were trying their best to publicise about this centre among the citizens of the State. They complained that the public visit only the Pasteur Institute and Ganesh Das Hospital.
No one from the management was available for comments as to why this diagnostic centre is yet to be functional.
It was witnessed that the Radiology department of this centre is still under lock and key since the equipment are yet to be fully installed.
In the same campus, during the peak of the pandemic, the government had spent Rs 3.5 crore to put up a prefabricated COVID centre for attending to patients. The centres, one each for Shillong and Tura, were never put to any public use even for a single day.
A visit to the site at Lawmali revealed that the prefabricated COVID centre was unoccupied. The premises are being utilised for parking of vehicles, including ambulances.
When inquired, it was informed that the centre was yet to have power and water connections.
The Chennai-based Modulus Housing, which executed the project, has handed over the project to the Health department.
It is learnt that the Health department is now planning to hand over this centre to the Ganesh Das Hospital management.
Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr. Melony Bareh said that she was verbally told by the higher ups that this centre will be handed over to the hospital management.
She however informed that so far it is yet to be officially handed over to them.
As if that was not enough, a Pediatric ICU (PICU) project at the COVID-19 step down hospital at Umsawli which was launched by Home Minister Amit Shah on July 24 last year, has not witnessed a single footfall for nearly a year now.
Built at a cost of Rs 10 crore, all that the unit has today is a few attending staff with no work responsibility. Now a big padlock is hanging at the main gate.
During a visit to the site, it was found that the whole place bore the semblance of a cemetery bereft of activities. The unit has only a few grade IV staff meant to take care of the idle assets. Two drivers of the 108 ambulances are also staying in one of the quarters. Sources revealed that the doctors and health staff of this COVID-19 step down hospital are now attached either to Shillong Civil Hospital or Ganesh Das Hospital. According to sources, not even a single case of child patient has been reported, let alone being treated in this specially equipped ICU.
A senior Health official said that the COVID prefabricated centre and PICU unit were set up as a backup in case there was a resurgence in COVID-19 cases in the state.
However, nobody is prepared to admit that the botched projects have yielded precious little, except causing the exchequer to be poorer by only Rs 125 crore!
