* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The Indian state of West Bengal was hit this month by “one of the biggest scams in the health care sector” – and it’s thanks to a Thomson Reuters Foundation journalism trainee that the corruption came to light.
The Indian state of West Bengal was hit this month by what journalist Shibananda Basu called “one of the biggest scams in the health care sector” – and it’s thanks to Basu’s experience with Thomson Reuters Foundation journalism training that the corruption came to light.
In December, Basu took part in a “Governance Reporting” course with the Foundation in London. Throughout the five-day course, trainees learned to uncover poor political governance, corruption and nepotism through intense, practical exercises.
Putting his training to use, Basu, a staff reporter for the West Bengal newspaper The Statesman, uncovered corruption in a local hospital. SSKM, a state-run hospital, had been buying medical gases from a specific private agency for years, ignoring another agency with lower prices, without giving any reason. In total, the hospital accrued extra expenditure of Rs 8.3 million – $135,000 (£82,000).
A hospital staff member quoted in Basu’s article noted that the wasted money could have been used to secure medical assistance for the poor.
Shortly after returning to West Bengal following the end of the training course, Basu said he received a tip-off regarding the corruption at SSKM, but spent two months fruitlessly searching for evidence.
“Further investigation and the techniques I learned during the course helped me a great deal,” Basu said. “My skills sharpened by the training really guided me to delve deeper into the matter and to find out an internal audit report that clearly stated the corruption.”
Basu said his article “caused great embarrassment for the government as well as the business community in which the private agency is a member.” The government immediately called for a thorough investigation into the matter, and Basu said he will continue to investigate himself.
With elections approaching in India, Basu said he will be unable to talk to many government officials for a while, as the Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct (MCC) prohibits government officials from speaking to the media during the election campaign.
However, Basu said he is “probing the matter further” and that documents he has acquired indicate there may be more such cases of corruption in similar institutions.
Basu said he has become “more mature” as a reporter following the Foundation’s course, and encouraged more reporters to apply.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
