Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s son gets a job, firm lands plum government contract

READ: Siddaramaiah is misusing his power as CM: B S Yeddyurappa

According to RoC records, Matrix Imaging was set up in October 2009 by two partners, Ramesh Gowda C M and Satish Prasad. The company inducted Dr Yathindra as a director on September 8, 2014, and Satish Prasad stepped down soon after. Despite being set up in 2009, the company reported revenues only in 2012-13 (Rs 2.77 crore) and 2013-14 (Rs 3.12 crore). There are no filings for 2014-15.

On September 19, 2015, BMCRI called for bids to provide “clinical laboratory and radiodiagnosis and imaging services’’. Under the project, a private company was to be given prime space, within the premises of the Rs 120-crore Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) Hospital at BMCRI, to create a state-of-the-art diagnostic facility.

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In October 2015, Matrix Imaging was awarded the tender, despite objections from many heads of department at BMCRI and questions over the emergence of the company as the lowest bidder. The lab is set to open at the end of the month.

“He is a doctor by profession. It has been done through a transparent process,’’ said Siddaramaiah on Wednesday.

“I did not know that I should not have participated in the bidding as I am the CM’s son. I will resign if it is certain that I have violated the code of conduct,’’ said Dr Yathindra. “As per my lawyer, there is no violation of code of conduct. If there is politicisation of the issue and if I have to become a scapegoat, I am willing to become one for my father’s sake,’’ he said.

”Four to five companies came in the pre-bid stage. Later, two companies, Matrix and HLL, were shortlisted but HLL did not submit a demand draft on time…. We cannot do anything if others did not qualify,’’ said Dr Girish. “We did not know the chief minister’s son was a director. Our interactions were with his partner,’’ he claimed.

According to Dr Girish, Matrix Imaging is in the process of setting up outsourced medical diagnostic facilities at two other government heart hospitals in Mysuru and Gulbarga.

“As soon as the project was proposed, a group of senior doctors at BMCRI wrote to the director, objecting to the creation of a private lab alongside the existing modern labs on the campus. We objected on the ground that it would affect PG students since they would not get access to the private lab, and we were also concerned that the move was intended to enable someone to use government property to make private profit,’’ said a senior doctor at BMCRI.

At a meeting convened to address the doctors’ concerns, Dr Girish stated that a diagnostic facility to cater to the needs of the 210-bed super speciality hospital was needed since there were complaints that the existing government lab and radio diagnosis unit were unable to meet its needs.

“We need a 24-hour facility, and this service is not being provided by the existing labs,’’ said Dr Girish.

But BMCRI doctors said the existing radio diagnosis unit already provides 24-hour service and caters to 70-80 patients daily, including about a dozen from the PMSSY.

“The claim that there were other bidders for the contract is technically untrue, since three other companies — Clumax, HLL and a private dealer — were present only at the pre-bid stage, but had dropped out by the final stage,’’ claimed a senior doctor at BMCRI.

“There is no need for another lab on the campus since the existing lab is state-of-the-art and caters to the needs of all departments, including the PMSSY patients. The aim is to favour a company and help it achieve profits, since the facility will be open to private patients too and not just the government hospital patients,’’ said another senior doctor.

The BMCRI is not the first government medical college in Karnataka to allow a private diagnostic lab on its campus. In 2009, the Mysore Medical College allowed Clumax Diagnostics to set up an MRI facility on its campus.