Health institutions getting billions in grant from Sindh govt told to have accounts audited by reputable firms

Despite receiving funds amounting to billions of rupees annually from the Sindh government as grant-in-aid for the last several years, not a single public or private health institution, non-governmental organisation (NGO) or organisations working in the health sector have got their accounts audited from any reputable auditing firm and submitted a report to the provincial government, it emerged on Wednesday.

“Hundreds of billions of rupees have been provided to dozens of health institutions, both public and private, NGOs and organisations working in the field of health for the last several years without any audit. We have asked all such institutions receiving financial assistance from the Sindh government as grant–in-aid to get their accounts audited from top-auditing firms and furnish the report to the government,” an official of the caretaker set-up told The News.

The caretaker set-up in Sindh is being headed by Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar, while former federal finance secretary Younus Dagha has been assigned the portfolio of caretaker finance minister, officials, said adding that both the provincial CM and finance minister as well as other ministers were concerned about transparency of the funds provided to government-run and private health organisations during the past 10 years.

According to documents available with The News, as many as 34 government and private institutions, NGOs and other organisations have been receiving funds amounting to billions of rupees annually from the government as grant-in-aid for the last 10 years for the treatment of needy and deserving patients in the province, but they never furnished the audit reports from independent audit firms to the government.

The top recipients of the government’s grant-in-aid for the treatment of needy and deserving patients include the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) Karachi, Indus Hospital Karachi, Child Life Foundation Karachi, Patients’ Aid Foundation Karachi and Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital (SIDH) Karachi.

“These five institutions have been asked to get their accounts audited from the top four auditing firms in the country and present the reports to the Sindh government as early as possible,” the official in the caretaker set-up said.

Similarly, 19 government and private health institutions, NGOs and other organisations which were getting less than one billion rupees from the government as grant-in-aid have been asked to get their accounts audited from the top 10 auditing firms and present the reports to the government as soon as possible.

“Several private organisations and institutions, including The Kidney Center, LRBT, Marie Adelaide Leprosy Center, Benazir Shaheed ANF Model Addiction Center, PNFWH, The Cancer Foundation, Fatimid Foundation, Kashif Iqbal Thalassaemia Center, Directorate of Drugs Sindh, Nuclear Institute of Medicine and Radiotherapy, Jamshoro, have been asked to get their accounts audited from 10 leading accounting and auditing firms,” the official added.

Similarly, the Patients Aid Foundation, Patients Welfare Association, Women and Children Medical Care Trust, Afzaal Memorial Thalassaemia Center, Preen Rasool Thalassamia Care Trust, Agha Welfare Trust, Children of Adam, Fatmiyah Hosptial, Hemophilia Welfare Society, ICCBS at Karachi University and Dr Ziauddin Group of Hospitals have also asked to get their accounts audited from the top 10 auditing firms.

The official maintained that unfortunately, despite receiving billions of rupees from the Sindh government, these institutions were not giving any credit to the government. The official said the grant recipients were giving the impression that they were solely serving the people, while provincial government was being defamed and criticised by the media and people for doing nothing for the ordinary people.

“We have directed all the recipients of the public money to display the logo of the Sindh government on their stationery, put up banner and standees showcasing the support of Sindh government, and spend at least 0.5 per cent of the money for highlighting the contribution of the Sindh government,” the official added.