Abbasi Shaheed Hospital’s records seized

Karachi
As part of the ongoing crackdown on public hospitals in Karachi, a team of Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Sindh raided the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) Karachi and seized records of procurement, promotions, appointments and expenditure since January last year.
ACE Karachi Director Muhammad Bozdar confirmed that a team had raided ASH on Monday and said the team stayed at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for several hours during which they obtained the files pertaining to procurement, promotions, appointments and utilisation of funds. However, he said, no one from the hospital administration was detained.
He said the records would be analysed by the investigators and in case any evidence was found to support misappropriation of funds or any kind of embezzlement, cases would be registered against the officials involved.
Bozdar said the action against misappropriation of funds and other violations had been initiated on the directives of the Sindh High Court and a compliance report would be submitted to the court shortly.
He said the raid at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital was part of the ongoing drive against public hospitals since October.
Though the ACE officials maintain that the ongoing operations against embezzlement have been launched on the directions of the Sindh High Court, the actions are actually geared towards reigning in the corrupt elements afflicting the province’s health sector.
While that may be the case, as it remains a part of the modus operandi that ACE must seek the government or judiciary’s approval for probes, a troubling fact is that for a case to be actually registered and officials prosecuted, ACE has to again get the all-clear from a committee of provincial high-ups headed by the chief secretary.
The current drive began with a raid at the Civil Hospital Karachi on October 2, when ACE investigators seized files and records of procurement of the health facility.
The next raid was conducted on November 14, at Kulsoom Bai Valika Hospital in SITE area, but the ACE investigators could not find any record of procurement or other spending and had to do with recording statements of accountants and other staff.
On the same day, the Sindh Government Hospital in Liaquatabad was also raided simultaneously. The investigators seized files and records but did not make any arrests, or summon any official of the administration for questioning.
Earlier this week, ACE teams raided the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Sindh Government Hospital in Korangi and two other hospitals in Badin and Umerkot districts, where the investigators similarly seized records of procurement, expenditure, appointments and recruitment.
On Friday, ACE teams arrived at Sindh Government Hospital in Saudabad, Malir, and confiscated several files which contained records of procurement and other important ledgers.
However, neither any official was taken into custody nor did the investigators summon them for recording their statements.
Similarly, last Thursday, the ACE teams had also visited the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) Karachi from where they took away files and documents.