Thread by @jamewils

Get educated, read beyond WhatsApp

On October 21, the Central Medical Services Society, an autonomous institution under the @MoHFW_INDIA floated a tender online calling for bidders to establish Pressure Swing Adsorption oxygen plants in 150 district hospitals across the country

https://twitter.com/facelesshero12/status/1386299440093224964

It seems unlikely that the delay in kickstarting the tender process was caused by a lack of funds: the outlay for 162 oxygen plants (12 plants seem to have been added later) is just Rs 201.58 crore.

On the status of 162 oxygen plants for which contracts were given in 2020, all it said was that they were “being closely reviewed for early completion of 100 percent of the plants”.

“Even if Covid-19 had not been there, these plants should be there. We have had tragedy after tragedy because of lack of oxygen,” said T Sundararaman, former director of the National Health Systems Resource Centre, an advisory body of the MoHFW

Remember Dr. Khafeel Khan ?

What explains the delay in installing the oxygen plants when infrastructure should have been ramped up on war footing during a pandemic?

Please note that control freaks hold on to the tender process, rather than allowing the States to do so.

This is an investigation by @scroll_in, none of our mainstream media will dare to do this!

The link is here

scroll.in/article/992537…

The contracts were awarded to at least three companies –Uttam Air Products, Airox Technologies and Absstem Technologies –according to the information provided by district officials at the hospitals.

Who done it?

Central Medical Services Society, under the Union health ministry

In Uttar Pradesh, not one of the 14 hospitals reported having a functional oxygen plant.

SR Singh of Lucknow’s Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civil Hospital accused the company that won the contract of “fleeing after installing the plant”.

Gyanendra Kumar of Meerut’s LLRM Medical College said: “We allocated a site for the plant, but the machine is yet to come. I have phoned the company several times, but there is no response.”

In both cases, the contract had been won by Absstem Technologies, a company registered in Delhi.

Even MGG general hospital in Navsari, Gujarat, identified Absstem as the company that won the contract but failed to show up!

Who prequalified these companies?

Scroll says they were unable to contact any official of Absstem since phone numbers and email addresses mentioned on the company website were unresponsive. 

This looks like that contract of Rafale given to Chotta Ambani!

Another company that bagged orders to install the new oxygen plants is the Aurangabad-based Airox Technologies. Its founder Sanjay Jaiswal claimed the company had finished all procedures on its end.

But the new units were delayed because hospitals, he claims.

But please listen to hospitals.

Across the states, however, most hospitals insisted they had all the infrastructure ready.

“On January 13, I sent the company a mail saying the site is ready,” said Dr Niyati Lakhani of GMERS Medical College and General Hospital, Gandhinagar.

“I have not heard back despite several follow-ups. We desperately need it up and running. We just are not being able to manage with cylinders.”

The company contracted to carry out work in Gandhinagar was Delhi-based Uttam Air Products, blacklisted by the CMSS on April 13.

A letter by Central Medical Services Society, states the company had not submitted its security deposit or accepted letters of acceptance after winning the contract.

Amen! This is how babudom manages a pandemic !

As the delays escalate, smaller hospitals in fur-flung areas are particularly impacted. It is extremely difficult for them to procure oxygen cylinders when supply lines are choked.

They are simply unable to compete with bigger players with deeper pockets.

India has 718 districts.

If SYSTEM had any vision and planning, they should have been better spent less than Rs.1000 crores on war footing basis, remember in 4 days PM cares collected more than 3000 crores, and monitored and ensured oxygen facility in all districts!

But we are searching for oxygen from cow fart!

Quack Vardhan was monitoring and scolding institutions as they failed to make any headway on Gobar research!

That is what India chosen!

Now when we need to attend an oxygen emergency, which can't even postpone even for an hour, Ministers to IT coolies started singing paeans of Emperor for alloting some peanuts from his private fund for oxygen plants, which will take months to commission!

That is India of 2021