Bhubaneswar: Even though the Health department has allocated RS 1.42 crore for the development of ‘e-Niramaya’, a software application for better management of the state’s Niramaya scheme which ensures free as well as affordable essential medicines in hospitals, the reluctance of the officials to use the application has put the plan on the back burner.
The Odisha State Medical Corporation Limited (OSMCL) is the nodal agency for the procurement of drugs, equipment and other health-related infrastructure.
The application was envisioned to automate the supply chain management of medical consumables. The functionalities include management of the procurement, distribution and quality control of the drugs. Its use began April 1, 2017.
Much of the delay in the supply of essentials was attributed to the OSMCL officials preferring manual methods to e-Niramaya. The officials allegedly continued to delay in putting forth the Annual Procurement Plan (APP) before the concerned committees. OSMCL was mandated to submit their APP by December 15 but it delayed the submission by five to seven months.
The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India tabled in the last Budget session of Odisha Assembly revealed the massive under-utilisation of ‘e-Niramaya’.
“The state/district-wise consolidated annual demand was not forecast/ generated through the e-Niramaya application, despite having a provision for the same in the system. Instead, APPs were prepared manually after consolidating the annual requirement/indents received from field functionaries outside the e-Niramaya application. Thus, the e-Niramaya application was not utilised optimally and could not be used to mitigate the delays in the finalisation of the APP,” read the CAG report released in April 2021.
The report, responsible for auditing the Niramaya scheme management by OSMCL, also cited the response from the Health department which had claimed in August 2020 that irrational indents or indents in an improper format, received from concerned officers, contributed to the delay in the approval of APP.
“The fact, however, remained that these delays impacted the supply of essential drugs and equipment to health institutions. Further, non-utilisation of the e-Niramaya application for generating accurate indents also contributed to delays in preparation and approval of APP,” the CAG report said.
OSMCL was also accused of showing undue favours to suppliers and failing in maintaining minimum stocks of medicines. CAG accused OSMCL of not abiding by the prescribed norms.
“Monitoring of inventory management through e-Niramaya software application was ineffective leading to a shortage of drugs in health institutions and expiry of drugs as well. Government was unsuccessful in providing an unbroken supply of essential drugs to the patients in public health institutions as per its own prescribed Essential Drug List,” the CAG report said.
OSMCL authorities, however, were not available for the queries when contacted over phone.