Palanpur: After the then Chief District Health Officer (CDHO) of Banaskantha district, Dr Manish Fancy was transferred around a month ago, a departmental inquiry has been initiated against him in what appears to be huge scam in mass procurement. In a single day, 21,000 masks were purchased at an exorbitant price of Rs 47 lakh meant for 13 talukas of Banaskantha. This figure does not include those masks which were purchased at the hospitals that were started at Palanpur, Deesa and Dhanera to tackle the rising Covid-19 cases.
Taking a serious note of Dr Fancy’s inappropriate conduct as well as for harassing employees and initiating punitive action against a few doctors who refused to cooperate with him, the state government has taken the coercive action. Dr Fancy will have to answer the purchase of N95 masks procured at ‘unexplained’ prices. District development officer Swapnil Khare said that the probe is being conducted by Health Department in Gandhinagar.