A medical cyclotron, used for imaging and research, purchased at a cost of USD 2.5 million in 2017 (about Rs 15.42 crore) at Delhi State Cancer Institute is among the equipment worth crores of rupees lying unused at government hospitals in the Capital, a recent audit has revealed. The audit was conducted following an order from the Delhi High Court on July 3.
On July 3, a bench of Justices Prathiba Singh and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora had directed all hospitals under the Delhi government to conduct an auditand file a report before the High Court on the equipment lying unused. The order was issued after it came to the court’s notice that the PET (positron emission tomography) cyclotron at Delhi State Cancer Institute, used to produce radioactive isotopes for medical imaging purposes, was lying unused since April 2022. “It is clear that this is a gross waste of public resources,” the court had recorded on July 3.
A total of 26 hospitals filed the status updates after internally conducting an audit on unused medical equipment. The Delhi government then compiled the audit reports on an affidavit, which was submitted before the High Court on August 5.
Among all the 26 hospitals, which include GTB Hospital, Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, Burari Hospital, Lok Nayak Hospital, GIPMER (GB Pant Hospital), Maulana Azad Medical College, and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, the Delhi State Cancer Institute stands out. Several hospitals have cited lack of manpower as the reason for the equipment lying unused.
Delhi State Cancer Institute
The medical cyclotron — purchased by its Department of Nuclear Medicine in 2017 at a cost of USD 2.5 million (Rs 15.4 crore), in addition to Rs 64 lakh incurred for local supply and Rs 2.5 crore as turnkey cost — is currently sitting unused due to lack of manpower, according to the affidavit submitted in the court.
The same department also has an advanced imaging device for precise targeting of cancer treatments — a dual-head gamma camera with Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), multislice CT, and radiation therapy (RT) simulation. Purchased in 2017, it has been lying unused as the machine is “under evaluation,” according to the affidavit. The equipment had cost USD 1.3 million, along with local supply cost of Rs 26.68 lakh.
Under the Department of Oncopathology, a grossing station — purchased from KUGEL, Germany — which is a workstation for tissue slicing and sample preparation, lies unused due to “lack of availability of space” for installation, the court has been told. The equipment was received free of cost.
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The Department of Lab Medicine also has three types of analysers (diagnostic tools) lying unused — including one biochemistry analyser costing Rs 1.26 crore — due to “discontinuation of reagents (specific chemicals used for testing)”. The three analysers are now in the “process of condemnation”. Condemnation implies the equipment is unusable now.
Dr. B. R. Sur Homoeopathic Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre
A fully-functional ultrasound machine, worth Rs 19.08 lakh, lies unused “due to non-availability of radiologist”. The hospital has no regular sanctioned post of radiologist, and says it is in the process of engaging a radiologist on “guest-faculty basis”.
Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital
An anesthesia liquid medical oxygen buffer tank, worth around Rs 94.82 lakh, donated by Save Life Foundation, a non-profit, in 2021 during Covid outbreak, has also been lying unused. According to the hospital, the buffer storage tank for all hospitals, especially in West Delhi, was “never connected” with the medical gas pipeline system (MGPS) at DDUH, the court was told.
Two other equipments for the Eye Department, an eye bank specular microscope, used for evaluating and grading quality of donor corneal tissues, and an eye bank laminar air flow, used as a sterile workstation for transferring donor cornea from one storage to media , were purchased in 2020 and 2019, respectively, for Rs 22.15 lakh. The equipment, procured for establishing a fully-functional eye bank at DDU Hospital, have been lying unused since the purchase. Earlier, it remained unused owing to a lack of trained cornea specialists, and then the pandemic brought about a “complete shut down” on corneal donation and organ transplantation. It continues to lie unused with a shortage of trained doctors and ophthalmologists.
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Oxygen concentrators, BiPaps, ventilators, indented by the surgery, orthopedic, pediatric, gynecology departments of the hospital during COVID19 in 2021, including 13 of the contentious Dhaman ventilators which cost Rs 2.16 lakh each, lies unused at the hospital, post the pandemic.
During Covid, the hospital received various equipment, including 140 pieces of patient monitors, 180 pieces of Bipap machine, and 500 pieces of oxygen concentrators.
Several of them now lie unused, and according to the hospital, it is indented in various wards of the hospital “when required”.
Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court
Professional Profile
Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express.
Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare).
Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others.
She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020.
With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram
Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025)
Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles:
High-Profile Case Coverage
She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy.
Signature Style
Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system.
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