Kerala Health Minister Veena George and the Director of Medical Education (DME) found two major takeaways from the expert committee report to hold Dr Haris Chirakkal, Urology Head of Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, accountable for his actions—a missing equipment and interaction with the media. The department, which is yet to publish the report, went to extreme lengths to make Haris feel that he lied about the equipment shortage, misrepresented facts and even implied that he was responsible for the equipment missing from the department.

While cherry-picking extracts from the inquiry report (in possession of Onmanorama), the health department deflected attention from far serious concerns in the report. The statement given by Haris and other findings draw a bleak picture of the health department -- like collecting money from patients to buy equipment, desperate measures like borrowing accessories from other hospitals in the city and non-availability of funds forcing patients to spend from own pockets. He had informed about the purchase of an equipment (flexiscope) utilising money from patients.

While Haris is blamed for not communicating issues and that the Health Minister had no clue about the matter, the report shows that he has informed about the practice of buying equipment with patients' money as an answer to a Legislative Assembly question. This means that the office of the Health Minister was in the know of the plight of patients.

It wasn't just cancellation of surgeries Haris had flagged. As per the report, he also had complained about non-procurement of various equipment under the plan fund, KIIFB, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) fund, equipment repairs, purchase of spares and so on. The department was unable to perform urological procedures for patients referred from various parts of the state, according to Dr Haris's statement included in the report.

A statement of the PRO,National Health Mission (NHM), shows the sad state of  Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhathi (KASP). The scheme, fully financed by the government, aims at providing a health cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to over 42 lakh poor and vulnerable families.

The case reported by Dr Haris specifically broached a patient's situation where surgery had to be cancelled for lack of equipment. The report identifies the patient as registered under KASP according to his case sheet. The NHM PRO has told the committee that due to the unavailability of funds, patients may have out-of-pocket expenditure. As per the Assembly figures, the dues under KASP for 2024-25 was ₹993 crore. The committee notes that there is a general feeling among the HoDs that certain items may not be available through KASP due to financial constraints of the scheme.

The expert committee also found that it takes months to get an equipment supplied no matter how urgent the need is. Sample this, on December 19, 2024, a letter was sent to the District Collector for purchase of probes. The sanction was received for purchase on June 23, 2025, nearly six months later. This is then followed by price negotiation with the company, sending a negotiation letter and finally getting the supply order. The significant delay in procedure has been recorded in the report. Every time there is an almost one-month gap in supplying the item after issuing the order, the committee noted.

The equipment to remove a ureteric stone is Lithoclast Pneumatic Ultrasonic. The urologist needs pneumatic lithoclast probe which can be used in 30-50 procedures and then it gets damaged. A regular supply of probes is essential to ensure continuous, uninterrupted patient care, the report notes. On June 27, three cases had to be postponed. One doctor told the committee that he uses less costly equipment as a standby. When asked why he scheduled surgery knowing that accessories were not available, Haris told the members that he hoped to mobilise equipment from other hospitals.

For all these revelations, the minister and the DME found merit only in the case of violation of the code of conduct and a missing tissue morcillator with a morcilloscope. The minister did not acknowledge anything about the Assembly question, insufficient funds and patients being made to buy equipment in medical college. Dr Haris has sought a copy of the report so that he can furnish a reply to the show-cause notice. The four-member committee was constituted to do a comprehensive probe following the allegations raised by Dr Haris on shortcomings in health infrastructure.