In brazen violation of NHM rules, offline payments were made by tainted officials of the health department to hit financial gains; CMO, Med. Supdt., BMOs, tainted NHM officials hand in glove

In brazen violation of NHM rules, offline payments were made by tainted officials of the health department to hit financial gains; CMO, Med. Supdt., BMOs, tainted NHM officials hand in glove

POONCH TODAY NEWS

POONCH: It’s an established fact that the tainted officials of the Health Department of Poonch have converted the department into a toll plaza where the concerned officials love to hit the financial favors without fearing an action from the government. In complete violation of NHM rules, offline payments were made from Raja Sukhdev Singh Hospital Poonch, the CMO, and the Dy. CMO office to all the blocks of the department, viz., Mendhar, Surankote, and Mandi, over the years.

The concerned officials looted government money at will on fake bills. Some big items were purchased at a higher rate. For example, the rate of an item is Rs 35,000 in the market, but the tainted officials purchased the said item through GEM or without GEM at a rate of Rs 95,000 from their close-one suppliers, who used to give a heavy share to the department officials for every transaction. However, whether those items were received on the ground or not is a different issue and could be verified from the stock register. These tainted officials gave a massive setback to the government exchequer. “POONCH TODAY” is in possession of some documents that show how the tainted officials of the Raja Sukhdev Singh Hospital made offline payments with a main agenda to illegally hit the financial gains. A bill of Rs 1,75,230/- was withdrawn for RO Plant Dialysis repair, but the actual cost of it in the market is far less. Another payment of Rs 60,180/- and 56,050/- was made for the same work of RO repairing. Likewise, huge bills related to items such as OPD slips, licenses for machines, X-ray films, syringes, ECG paper, drip sets, annual charges, and lab reagents, to mention a few, were withdrawn offline in brazen violation of rules. In fact, in every section of the health department, from district to block level, there lies a huge list of fake bills passed for various items by the tainted officers and blue-eyed NHM officials. A huge amount of Rs 10 lac was spent on the PVC panelling in the conference hall of the CMO office last year, but the same has been damaged now, and it shows how the funds were used in a haphazard manner by the tainted officials. In major tender works, the concerned officials play games to support their close-one bidders for every major work and ignore others by raising unimaginable queries, and this shows that a high-profile mafia is active in the department, which is working as per its own will. It is important to mention here that the health department of Poonch, particularly under HDF and NHM, has a huge budget of hundreds of crores annually, but the tainted officials for years swindled the money under various NHM schemes through offline purchases of various items. The offices of CMO, Dy. CMO, Raja Sukhdev Singh Hospital Poonch, and BMOs used to get huge funds in crores under NHM, but if an investigation is carried out, one could come to the conclusion that the tainted officials over the years murdered the government funds, especially those meant for strengthening the health care system on the ground. The operation theatre of the Raja Sukhdev Singh hospital has become a source of money for tainted officials posted there, including a retired doctor, as they used to charge money from poor patients. Imagine the state of affairs of the district hospital where a data entry operator was given complete charge of HDF and Ayushman Bharat by the medical superintendent, who looted the funds at will (order copy available with “POONCH TODAY”). Moreover, many blue-eyed NHM employees remained attached to their desired place of posting in complete violation of rules with the involvement of the CMO and medical superintendents of Raja Sukhdev Singh Hospital, Poonch. The whereabouts of two NHM employees who were transferred along with the post by the former CMO vide order no. CMO/P/NHM/SCTT/519-521 dated 16/08/2024 is not known yet, but they are reportedly drawing their salary continuously from unknown places. In addition to this, the posting of an NHM employee as DPM without any merit raised a big question mark on the working of the department. A data entry operator who was brought to Poonch from SDH Surankote is dancing to the tunes of big fishes with an agenda to hit financial gains illegally by any means. Recently, the Director of Planning NHM J&K, vide order no. SHS/NHM/J&K/P&S/7718316/8508-26 dated 31-07-25, directed the CMO Poonch to provide details of NHM staff attached to the CMO office. This order clearly justified the fact that some NHM managed their desired posting for years for their personal gains, whether legally or by illegal means in the department. The other day, MLA Haveli Ajaz Jan, during the visit of Health Minister Sakina Itto, raised the issue of fake computer repair bills of a few computers amounting to nearly 6 lacs, which were passed by the tainted departmental officials. Likewise, the list of fake passed bills under different sections of the department from district to block level is huge and requires a huge time to present the information in the public domain. However, if payments were made through offline acts in the Raja Sukhdev Singh Hospital in Poonch, then what would be the condition of the offices of BMOs, CMO, and Dy.CMO as far as the passing of fake bills is concerned, which are likely to be several crores in total? A high-level inquiry is needed from the government to bring to book those officials who murdered government funds at their will without caring for any action from the top brass of the department, because it’s a question of taxpayers’ money for which the tainted officials deserve a befitting retribution.