New Delhi: Delhi High Court has flagged the “gross wastage of public resources” as expensive medical equipment lies defunct and unused, and ordered an audit across all Delhi govt hospitals for an inventory of such products.The court stepped in after Delhi State Cancer Institute confirmed that PET Cyclotron equipment, used for PET scans, is inoperative as the faculty and approvals were pending, and only in Feb a specialist was taken on board from Safdarjung Hospital.A special bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Manmeet PS Arora said “that the PET Cyclotron equipment is stated to have been purchased at a cost of Rs 15.42 crore and has remained non-operational… for several years, despite a substantial amount having been spent” shows the “gross waste of public resources.”It ordered that “all the hospitals under Delhi govt shall conduct an audit and file a report before this court on all the equipment/machinery that have been purchased and are lying unused,” it said.The court clarified that the affidavits shall be filed by the medical superintendents of hospitals, at least five days before the next date of hearing. The court said the affidavits should clarify the nature of the equipment and its purpose, its cost and the year it was purchased, if the equipment was unused and the reason why.The issue was brought to the attention of the bench by the court-appointed amicus curiae Ashok Aggarwal, who in a note submitted “Wastage of Public Resources.”Aggarwal said that a PET Trace-10 Medical Cyclotron machine was installed on Sept 25, 2017, to provide critical nuclear medicine but has been non-operational since April 2022 for the lack of trained manpower. “Shockingly, its regulatory licence expired in Feb 2024 and has not been renewed,” he added. When the court pressed the institute for an explanation, Dr Pragya Shukla, head of clinical oncology, confirmed that the equipment is not operational as some approvals were pending.
