SHC seeks comments on plea questioning procurement of surgical system at higher prices

The Sindh High Court on Friday directed the Sindh government, health department and others to file comments on petitions that questioned the tender with regard to the import of robotic surgical systems by the government for Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad Jamshoro at much higher rates than the market price.

The direction came on a petition of Khawar Mehmood Afridi, who challenged the tender for the procurement of the robotic surgical system for the JPMC and LUH Jamshoro. The petitioner submitted that the Sindh government issued a tender for the import of robotic surgical systems for the JPMC and LUH without fulfilling lawful procedures.

He alleged that officials in the health department were hand in gloves to siphon off the public money by committing fraud in public procurement, which is evident from the fact that the cost of the robotic surgical system was $37,500 per unit in open market, but the same was intended to be purchased for $1.5 million and ultimately the supplier would have earned a profit of more than 1,500 percent.

The petitioner submitted that former caretaker health minister Dr Saad Khalid Niaz also halted the deal for the procurement of the robotic surgical system for four hospitals involving Rs4.427 billion and opined that such funds were required to be used for necessary health needs.

He submitted that poor people of the province were facing lack of first aid treatment in government hospitals due to a shortage of medicines, medical equipment and medical staff and funds allocated for the robotic surgical system can be utilized for essential medical equipment for hospitals on a priority basis. He said that the tender process should be transparent and measures should be adopted to save the public money.

The court was requested to set aside the bidding process of the expensive robotic surgical system and ensure that the procurement process be made strictly under the procurement regulations instead of giving a contract to favourite companies.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui observed that comments of the Sindh government, health department and other respondents were not filed despite the issuance of notices. The court directed the respondents to file their respective comments within two weeks.