After a machine became out of use, it took almost two years for the state government to issue an administrative sanction to purchase a new one for a procedure at the department of urology in Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, at a cost of ₹2 crore. Moreover, the entire process may have to be done again as the cost for the equipment has gone up now.

Dr Haris Chirakkal, head of the department, had recently gone public with issues regarding the lack of equipment and postponement of surgeries in the hospital. This open admission had irked the government following which an expert committee was constituted to probe the complaints and a show-cause notice was issued to Dr Haris. There was even an attempt to castigate him over what the medical college principal and superintendent termed as 'missing' equipment.

As per the order issued by the health and family welfare department, the sanction has been given to buy the machine for Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL), a non-invasive procedure to break stones inside the urinary tract, bile or pancreatic duct using shock waves generated by the machine called lithotripter. It simplifies the procedure to break the stone into small pieces enabling it to pass through the body.

The earlier machine was tagged as non-serviceable in 2023 after being in use for 13 years. Sources in the department said that the requirement for the machine was flagged a year ago. "The price has now gone up. We won't be able to purchase the machine with the sanctioned ₹2 crore now," said an official. "With this machine, there is no need for surgical procedure. We had to stop this procedure in medical college since 2023. Now even with the administrative sanction, increased cost would further delay the purchase," sources said.

The expert committee constituted by the health department to probe the allegations of Dr Haris had flagged serious issues in equipment purchase delay. The committee found that it took months to get an equipment supplied no matter how urgent the need was. An example was also cited in the report to show that steps to purchase a new equipment go through a maze of procedures like sending letter to the collector, receiving sanction, holding price negotiation with the company, sending the letter and finally getting the supply order. Every time there is an almost one-month gap in supplying the item after issuing the order, the committee noted.

Even after all the row over timely procurement of equipment, the details of the order show that the director of medical education had sent a letter for the purchase of machine for non-surgical procedure in July 2025, a year after the requirement was communicated from the department. The committee noted in the report that the sanction for an essential item was received in June 2025 although the request was submitted to the office of the collector in December 2024. As per the observations of the committee, the major issue that led to an open remark by Haris was the delayed procurement and supply of pneumatic lithoclast probe. The committee found that the delay was due to insufficient financial delegation for the hospital development society secretary, getting necessary administrative sanction and the price hike of the item.

When Onmanorama reached for a comment, medical college superintedent Dr Sunilkumar said he was out of station.