2 December, 2009 - The anti corruption commission (ACC) has suspended the ministry of health’s liaison officer in Kolkata, Tshewang Samdrup, on allegation of accepting bribes while procuring drugs.
The drugs were being purchased for patients, who were referred from Bhutan for treatment to Kolkata.
An ACC team, which was in Kolkata in October, found evidence indicating that bribes in cash were being paid to Tshewang Samdrup after being adjusted in the bills. In return, he was allegedly favouring certain Indian suppliers and clearing their payments in time.
Patients, who cannot be treated in Bhutan for disorders like cancer, brain tumor, kidney failure and organ problems, are usually referred to India, where the majority of cases are sent to Kolkata.
The liaison officer has to coordinate, ensure patient welfare, provide updates to Thimphu and pay for the drugs and treatment of the patient with money sent by the government.
The budget for referral cases this financial year, from June 2009 to June 2010, is Nu 94.9 million, and from June 2008-June 2009 Nu 88.57m. A major chunk of this budget is spent on purchasing drugs for patients referred to India.
In addition to referral cases, the liaison officer is also responsible for purchasing ‘name patient drugs’ for patients, who come back from treatment and require drugs that are not available in Bhutan.
In June 2008-June 2009, Nu 12.5m was spent on drugs, over and above the referral budget for treatment and drugs. The liaison officer can purchase these drugs off the shelf without tenders since these drugs have to be purchased immediately.
This latest development is not directly related to the annual procurement of drugs and medical equipment by the ministry, but is a part of ACC’s larger investigations looking into corrupt practices in the ministry.
Tshewang Samdrup became the liaison officer in March this year. He was the administrative officer in the Paro dzongkhag hospital and was already nearing retirement. ACC is exploring if there was a larger nexus involved and if there were other similar cases in the past or present.
Kolkata is the main centre of referral for Bhutanese patients with 426 out of the 594 patients referred there in 2007-2008. 124 were referred to Vellore and 28 to Chennai. In 2008-09, of the 696 cases, 376 were sent to Kolkata.
Bhutan’s main referral cities are Kolkata, Vellore, Chennai and occasionally Guwahati. The referral hospitals in Kolkata are BM Birla, AMRI, Roby general hospital, Apollo, Cancer Centre.
Meanwhile ACC is still investigating the central procurement of drugs and medical equipment from Thimphu.
By Tenzing Lamsang
