Bihar: Greater purchase power granted to college principals and superintendents

Patna:The superintendents and principals of medical colleges have been granted greater purchase empowerment by the state Health Department by increasing the value of purchases from Rs.1 lac to Rs. 5 lac at a time. The department has set no upper limit to the number of times purchases can be made by them in a year, clarified Deputy Secretary, Health, Anil Kumar.

"There is no such limit. They can purchase as and when required. In one go, they cannot purchase any machine or equipment costing more than Rs 5 lakh," Kumar added.

However, this empowerment lasts till such time that the BMSICL finalizes its own price list . "When the BMSICL finalizes the price, the power will deemed to be surrendered by default. Also, such machines whose price has already been decided by BMSICL can't be purchased by superintendents/principals,” the Health Department notification clarifies.

This empowering of College academic and administrative heads by the Department of Health has also been done to rectify deficiencies of infrastructure, brought to light by the MCI; it is also to facilitate implementation of the Patna High Court Orders, states the department notification.

The recent decision has also been taken in the face of complaints registered by principals and superintendents about unavailability of machines in hospitals as Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Limited (BMSICL) takes a long time in making purchases.