CHANDIGARH, July 4: A PGIMER committee probing financial irregularities has found that ₹88.12 lakh—meant to aid poor patients under government healthcare schemes—was illicitly routed to pharmaceutical vendors without doctor prescriptions, violating mandatory protocols for medical reimbursements.
The Arun Kumar Aggarwal Committee, tasked with investigating the misuse of PGIMER’s Private Grant Cell funds, revealed that medicines were procured for 75 patients who neither sought treatment reimbursements nor had prescriptions issued. The overall amount misappropriated from the fund crossed ₹1.14 crore, according to the report.
“The bulk of these payments were processed without any request or verification,” the report states, adding that such violations occurred between 2017 and 2021.
Five employees linked to the Private Grant Cell have been named in the report, although no senior administrative officers have been held accountable so far. Despite the magnitude of the fraud, disciplinary action appears limited—only one of the six implicated, junior administrative assistant Dharam Chand, has retired, while others including contractual workers Sunil Kumar, Pardeep Singh, and Chetan Gupta, along with deputation staffer Gaganpreet, continue to be on PGIMER’s rolls.
The misappropriation first came to light in October 2022, but an inquiry committee wasn’t constituted until February 2023. Its report was finally submitted to PGIMER administration in late 2024. The case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) only in February 2025, raising concerns over procedural delays.
Ashwani Munjal, president of the PGI Contractual Workers’ Union, obtained the internal report through an RTI application filed on July 1, 2025. “Why was there a gap of several months before the first committee meeting on October 5, 2023? It shows how seriously the administration took this,” Munjal said, pointing to alleged inaction and a lack of accountability.
The CBI has not registered an FIR yet, but officials confirm that the probe is active. “The case has been formally handed over to the CBI by the vigilance department,” said PGIMER medical superintendent Dr. Vipin Kaushal. “The CBI is now in charge of the investigation, and the directives issued by the vigilance department are being implemented.”
The Private Grant Cell was created to extend timely financial support to economically disadvantaged patients. However, the current findings have sparked questions over systemic lapses, oversight, and internal checks at one of India’s premier medical institutions.
