By By Imtiaz Ali
Sindh Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday expressed its extreme displeasure over the massive irregularities in the audit report of the Sindh Health Department for the years 2005-06 and 2004-05, and recommended holding an inquiry into the purchase of substandard medicines and also purchase of expired drugs.
Chairman PAC Sardar Jam Tamachi observed that spurious and fake drugs were freely available in market and said, “Doctors do not perform their duties while gynaecologists’ are more interested in running their private clinics.”
Responding to these observations, Special Secretary Health, Dr. Captain (retd) Majid said that the department did not allow the release of medicines without proper tests from the drug laboratory for assessing their efficacy.
He recalled that when he conducted a raid in ‘Katchi Gali’ in Karachi against spurious drugs, people involved in the business took out guns. He claimed that the health department recently conducted raids in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur.
A representative of the Chandka Medical College said that no professor was willing to become its principal since 2003 because of student unrest. He said that when the government appointed Professor Channa as the principal who later resigned after he was dragged by the students.
Director General Health said that the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules were causing losses, as one drug, which foreign company gives at Rs 35, was being provided by a local firm for Rs 2-plus.
The PAC recommended for issuing show-cause notices to health officials who purchased medicines worth Rs 55.47 million without laboratory tests. In the said case, medicines worth Rs 1.99 million were declared sub-standard by the Drug Testing Lab but the same were not got replaced from suppliers despite the passage of four years.
In another case, the PAC asked the chief minister and chief secretary to fix responsibility for the purchase of substandard medicines worth Rs 2.75 million. The PAC asked the CM and CS to give directions for issuing show cause notice to health officials and fix responsibility on those who procured medicines worth Rs 1.68 million but the same were not given to hospitals in two years due to which the drugs expired.
The PAC recommended for issuing explanation letters to four hospitals for not depositing Rs 61.827 million earned through fees in government accounts. It did not consider the reply of special secretary as satisfactory that the hospitals could avail user charges for purchasing kits, etc, owing to lack of budget.
DG Audit, Nazeer Ahmed Seehar said that an irregularity was committed because money was not deposited.
The PAC asked the chief minister’s inspection team (CMIT) to conduct an inquiry against the officials who caused losses of over Rs 0.8 million by accepting the offer of the highest bidder instead of the lowest bidder to purchase a generator and made the payment in advance. In another case, the PAC sought an inquiry into a contract, awarded to a blacklisted firm, for purchasing machinery and equipment worth Rs 5.037 million.
The PAC was informed that the Chandka Medical College Hospital was giving Rs 4.50 million annually to a firm for the last 10 years for the maintenance of a Lithotripter machine but the service charges were so exorbitant that a new machine could be purchased out of the two years expenses. However, it settled this para as the governor Sindh had given his approval.