New Delhi: A massive medical procurement scam totaling nearly 600 crore rupees has been uncovered in Delhi’s Directorate General of Health Services, revealing systematic cost inflation of up to 500 per cent. An First Information Report registered by the anti-corruption branch of Delhi details how a sophisticated network of colluding officials and private suppliers manipulated government tenders to siphon off hundreds of crores from the public exchequer. Following a probe initiated by the local vigilance department, authorities arrested a former central procurement agency official, shedding light on a deeply entrenched system of cartelization, rigged specifications, and bypassed protocols.
The investigation exposes how specific medical supplies and equipment were purchased at highly exaggerated rates compared to standard market prices. Portable X-ray machines that typically cost around 10 lakh rupees when supplied to other government institutions were bought for 33 lakh rupees each, leading to an overpayment of more than 100 crore rupees. Similarly, basic linen items like bed sheets were procured at 450 rupees each instead of the standard 150 rupees, while the cost of oral rehydration solution sachets was inflated from two and a half rupees to 15 rupees each. Highly technical equipment, such as C-Arm radiological systems and specific anaesthesia workstations, were also subjected to similar price manipulation, with items valued at 25 lakh rupees billed at over one crore rupees per unit.
According to the investigating agency, the logistical manipulation relied heavily on creating a series of front companies with fictitious owners to control the bidding process. Skewed and restrictive tender specifications were intentionally drafted to match only the favored brands, and subsequent evaluation committees approved these documents under explicit administrative threats. To further eliminate competition, eligibility criteria regarding financial turnover and corporate experience were set unreasonably high, resulting in the immediate disqualification of independent bidders while the preferred front firms qualified despite lacking proper credentials.
The fraudulent operations also heavily compromised the integrity of the official e-procurement and Government e-Marketplace portals. In order to evade public scrutiny and hide the finalized contract rates, tenders were deliberately kept as active or under process on the online systems long after the manual purchase orders had been issued and full payments disbursed. This stood in stark contrast to legitimate, long-standing medicine suppliers who reportedly remained unpaid for over two years, while the corrupted tenders received unusual same-day or next-day financial clearances. Furthermore, the central procurement agency systematically avoided state-level open e-tenders, which traditionally secure bulk discounts directly from manufacturers, and instead routed contracts worth 400 crore rupees through local chemist tenders meant strictly for minor daily hospital emergencies.
