Adviser’s warning 671 health dept vehicles recovered

PESHAWAR: The warning of Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Ihtisham Ali helped recover 671 vehicles of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department that remained ‘missing’ for many years.

Attaullah Khan, a spokesman for the provincial Health Department, told The News that hundreds of vehicles, previously reported missing, were recovered in a single day following the directives of the adviser.

“Health Adviser Ihtisham Ali has introduced a policy of accountability and transparency in the Health Department. He started the HRMIS system in the Health Department and directed registration of state-owned vehicles in the new system that helped increase the number of vehicles from 80 to 671 in one day,” Attaullah Khan explained.

According to officials of the department, Health Advisor Ihtisham Ali had set a deadline of October 31 for all the directors general, project directors, and district health officers to submit the details of the vehicles under their supervision online.

“The health adviser warned that strict action, including immediate transfers, will be taken against any authorised officers for their failure to ensure proper entry before expiry of the deadline,” the spokesman said.

Special Secretary Health Habibullah said that the details of 671 vehicles had been uploaded to the portal, including 40 vehicles from the Independent Monitoring Unit.He said the process was underway and the district health officers (DHOs), medical superintendents, and other health centres were registering their vehicles.

However, the Tuberculosis Control Programme was so far unable to register details of the vehicles under its control, and their record was stated to be missing.The Health Department has requested details of vehicles that were purchased, donated, or acquired through projects.

Additionally, measures are being taken to halt budgets for repairs and fuel for vehicles without entries, instructing the Excise Department to take necessary actions and issuing directives to the DG Audit for recording audits against these vehicles.

According to the officials, Health Adviser Ihtisham Ali was furious when the majority of

the people didn’t respond to his directives earlier regarding vehicle registration.He had to set the final deadline with strict warning to the department to provide details of their vehicles.

According to the officials, most of these vehicles had been missing for years.“Some of the vehicles were in use by low-level employees who were not authorised to use a

government vehicle. Also, the retired officials had refused to return vehicles of the department,” said an official.