Covid-19: Karnataka purchased RT-PCR kits at thrice the price

The Karnataka State Drugs, Logistics and Warehousing Society (KSDLWS) paid at least three times the price for RT-PCR and RNA extraction kits, documents with DH show.

The state-run agency clubbed the purchase of RT-PCR and RNA extraction kits, which is being seen as a way to conceal the price of each kit procured in May when the pandemic was peaking and a lockdown was in place.

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The B S Yediyurappa administration is already facing several allegations in the procurement of Covid-19 equipment and supplies.

According to documents, states like Odisha and Gujarat procured RT-PCR and RNA extraction kits separately, whereas KSDLWS clubbed them both and purchased them at a higher price.

While Odisha purchased the RT-PCR kit for Rs 550 per unit, it paid Rs 100 per RNA extraction kit from a Hyderabad-based company. Gujarat placed a purchase order for 25,000 RNA extraction kits at Rs 179 per unit from the same firm.

Also from the same firm, Chhattisgarh purchased only RT-PCR kits for Rs 571.2 per unit.

However, the cost of RT-PCR and RNA extraction kit — manufactured by the same Hyderabad-based firm, but supplied through a Bengaluru-based company — purchased by KSDLWS was Rs 1,120. The KSDLWS purchased kits for 35,000 tests at a cost of Rs 3.92 crore at the end of May, with no break-up on the cost of each RT-PCR and RNA extraction kit.

When contacted, KSDLWS additional director N Manjushree said the procurement was based on the indent received from the National Health Mission (NHM). But according to NHM Mission Director Arundathi Chandrashekar, who took charge recently, indents are given based on the necessity of testing labs. “But the final decision regarding procurement is generally taken by the KSDLWS,” she said.

Speaking to DH, Deepak C N, general secretary, Karnataka Rashtra Samithi, said the issue will be tagged with the complaints filed by them with the Public Accounts Committee and the Anti-Corruption Bureau. He charged that the ACB complaint dated May 12 made little headway. “According to the ACB, they have sought permission from the government to launch a preliminary enquiry. The government has not permitted filing an FIR yet,” he said.