
Personal protective equipment (PPE) kits and other medical equipment had to be bought at higher rates during the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic because there was a scarcity, former Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said on Saturday, October 15. This was done with the permission of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, she said, while speaking at a function held in Kuwait. Shailaja’s statement comes a day after she and 10 others were served notices by the Kerala Lokayukta, in connection with a complaint alleging they had received kickbacks from the aforementioned purchases.
“The Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL) had informed me that they were running out of PPE kits. But if the kits were not purchased, health workers would be at risk. When I discussed the issue with the Chief Minister, he asked me to get them from wherever possible, but only after ensuring the quality of the product. The price of PPE kits in the market had increased by then. A PPE kit which was formerly available for Rs 500 was being sold for Rs 1500,” she said.
The Mattannur MLA added that she had asked the Chief Minister if they should buy the kits at the heightened price. “Eventually, the government decided to buy 50,000 PPE kits for Rs 1500, because we believed people's lives were more important. By the time around 15,000 kits were purchased, their market price began to fall again. So we cancelled the order for the remaining 35,000 kits and bought them at the market price instead,” she explained.
The complaint against the former Health Minister had been filed by Thiruvananthapuram-based Congress leader Veena S Nair and a few others two months ago, alleging that PPE kits bought via the KMSCL in 2020 were of excessive rates. Veena had pointed out in her complaint that while a single PPE kit was priced at Rs 446 on March 29, 2020, the next day it was purchased at Rs 1,550. She also alleged that the government had received kickbacks as part of the deal.