The government will investigate the purchase of health products
KATHMANDU: AUGUST 6 – The government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba has decided to investigate the irregularities in the procurement of health items and take action against the culprits. The government has made the announcement through a minimum common program. The minimum common program prepared by the ruling coalition says, “Irregularities in the procurement of health items will be investigated and the culprits will be prosecuted.”
During the first wave of the coronavirus epidemic, several ministers led by the outgoing Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli were dragged into the irregularities controversy. The then Defense Minister Ishwar Pokharel, Health Minister Bhanubhakta Dhakal and others were involved in the controversy. Following the controversy, the Public Accounts Committee of the Federal Parliament had concluded that there were irregularities in the controversial procurement made by the Ministry of Health for the prevention and control of coronavirus.
To purchase health products for infection prevention and control the Ministry of Health and Population had signed a contract worth Rs 1.24 billion with Omni Business Corporate International Pvt on 25 March 2020. However, before that, the process was started on February 8 and the contract was awarded to Omni without any decision for 48 days.
After spending time awarding contracts on the basis of competition, the government finally awarded the contract to Omni through negotiations. However, the agreement with Omni was cancelled on April 1 after widespread protests. After that, a complaint was lodged with the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority regarding the opaque procurement process.
Vaccinate all Nepalis till Chaitra
The government has also mentioned that the vaccine will be made available to all Nepalis by the next Chaitra(April) through the minimum common program. Including that the first priority of the government is vaccination against COVID-19, it has been mentioned in the program that one-third of the citizens will be vaccinated by next October and all eligible Nepalis will be vaccinated by mid-Chaitra (April).
