KP NAB chief visits health facilities to probe Rs9bn anomalies

MANSEHRA: Director General of the National Accountability Bureau in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ziaullah Turu on Friday visited health facilities in Hazara division in connection with the embezzlement of Rs9 billion in the purchase of the need-based surgical equipment and machines by the provincial Health department.

 “I am here to physically check corruption in the purchase of surgical equipment and high-tech machines by the health department and supply of the same articles to the hospitals, Rural Health Centres and District Health Officers across the province,” he said while speaking to mediamen after visiting King Abdullah Teaching Hospital here. Flanked by other NAB and Anti-Corruption Department officials, Turu visited warehouses and wards of the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital and checked the air-purification units, cardiac holter monitors and other machines and equipment purchased by the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and provided to health facilities across the province.

“Our inquiry is well underway against corruption and embezzlement in procurements of those articles, and we have found important traces and clues which could lead us to take to justice all those involved in this mega corruption,” Turu said. The NAB chief also visited Ayub Medical Complex Hospital in Abbottabad, the General Hospital in Dadar and DHO offices.

 He talked to heads and relevant staff members about those purchases and supplies to health facilities by the provincial health department. The official said inquiries into irregularities in the appointments made in the health department were underway and important clues had been made by NAB.The team led by the NAB chief separately questioned medical superintendents and DHOs during visits and asked about the award of a contract for the disposal of Covid-19 waste by the PTI government. 

The officials told reporters that the previous government had awarded a contract to a firm against the rules to collect Covid-19 waste from health facilities across the province and dump it anywhere else through their vehicles. “Health rules strictly bar any health facility either to transport or shift its waste out of the premises, but financial irregularities were made in awarding such a contract,” an official said. The NAB has also been conducting an inquiry into the alleged embezzlement of Rs 1 billion in the purchase of medicines by Ayub Medical Complex Hospital Abbottabad.