PAC panel slams health ministry over 154 unresolved audit paras

ISLAMABAD: Billions of rupees worth of decades-old audit objections continue to haunt the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, as its attached departments have failed to provide the relevant records of the pending audit paras.

A meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Subcommittee on Implementation and Monitoring, chaired by its Convener Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, reviewed audit paras of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination about the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), National Institute of Health (NIH), and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) for the fiscal years 2001 to 2010. Audit officials informed the committee that as many as 154 paras remain unresolved, including 40 that were discussed four months earlier, but for which no official record was presented. Expressing displeasure, Convener Tariq Fazal Chaudhry remarked that at the current pace, it would take another 25 to 30 years to clear the backlog of pending audit paras.

He directed the ministry and audit authorities to sit together “with an open mind” and ensure the provision of complete records in the next meeting.

He further instructed that at least 50 percent of the objections taken up in future meetings should be from recent audit reports to gradually eliminate the backlog.