Over half of PM CARES, CSR-funded oxygen plants in Bengal remained non-functional after Covid: CAG

Kolkata: More than half of the PSA oxygen plants installed under PM CARES and CSR initiatives in West Bengal during Covid were either uncommissioned or non-functional as of December 2023, while ventilators and oxygen concentrators were found lying idle at two government hospitals, a CAG report said.

It also flagged deficiencies in the utilisation of Covid-related funds. Of the total amount released under the Emergency COVID Response Package-II (ECRP-II), Rs 659.28 crore (65 per cent) remained unspent as of March 2022, it stated.

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Also, Rs 462.05 crore released as State COVID untied funds -- gap funding for pandemic responses not covered by strict central packages -- also remained unutilised.

The findings are part of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on public health infrastructure and management of health services in West Bengal.

The 2024 report was tabled in the Assembly on Friday. The erstwhile TMC government had not tabled CAG reports for four fiscals up to 2024-25.

The audit examined, among other issues, infrastructure created during the COVID-19 pandemic, when ventilators, oxygen concentrators and PSA oxygen generation plants were supplied under the PM CARES Fund to strengthen public healthcare facilities.

According to it, of the 75 Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen generation plants supplied under PM CARES and CSR initiatives, only 32 were functional as of December 2023.

The remaining 43 plants were either yet to be commissioned or were non-functional.

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The report also stated that of the 46 plants supplied with funds from PM CARES, 23 were functional and only nine of the 29 CSR-funded plants were operational.

The Narendra Modi government had set up the PM CARES Fund with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like the one posed by the Covid pandemic, and to provide relief to the affected. It was registered as a public charitable trust.

The performance audit also pointed to instances of PM CARES-funded ventilators and oxygen concentrators remaining non-operational or lying in stores in test-checked hospitals.

At the Critical Care Medicine Department of SSKM Medical College and Hospital, five ventilators received under the PM CARES Fund were found lying in stock as of March 2022 and had not been made operational due to lack of consumables.

Another three ventilators received under the scheme were found packed in the hospital store, the report said.

The hospital authorities told the auditor that the consumables supplied with the ventilators had been exhausted after prolonged use during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the absence of fresh consumables, the ventilators could not be operated, they had told the auditor, even though the report recorded that the ventilators remained in stock or packed during the audit.

At Raiganj Medical College and Hospital, the audit found that 17 ICU ventilators received under the PM CARES Fund during 2020-22 remained non-functional as of March 2022 due to the non-operation of the High Dependency Unit.

Five oxygen concentrators received under PM CARES were also found lying in the hospital store.

On the observations relating to PSA oxygen generation plants, the West Bengal Medical Services Corporation Ltd told the auditor that installation of the plants was within the scope of the Union government and the CSR agencies concerned.

It added that tenders had been invited to make the remaining plants functional.

The CAG, however, observed that despite the reply, there was "no assurance available to indicate as to when" the remaining PSA oxygen generation plants would become operational.