Probe ordered into expired medicines purchase

PESHAWAR: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Wednesday expressed reservations over the delay in holding regular meetings of the Departmental Accounts Committees (DACs).

The reservations were expressed at a meeting chaired by Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani and attended by MPAs Idrees Khattak, Inayatuulah Khan and Arbab Waseem Hayat, Secretary Health Imtiaz Hussain Shah and officers from law and finance departments, said an official handout.

The participants reviewed the audit paras of the Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, for the year 2015-16.

It was noted that expired laboratory chemicals were purchased for the hospital that caused a huge loss to the exchequer.

The speaker directed an investigation into the matter and sharing the report with the PAC and provincial audit department.

It was noted that the hospital administration had failed to recover Rs 5.5 million from contractors of car and bicycle stands of the hospital.

The contract of stands was allotted in 2015-16 for Rs 8.2 million but only Rs 2.7 million were recovered.

It was decided that a letter should be written to the deputy commissioners of native districts of relevant contractors to recover the amount from them.

The Health Department should submit a report within 30 days and take disciplinary action against the responsible officers of the hospital administration. Mushtaq Ghani directed to check the agreements and guarantee the amount of the present contractors.

The meeting noted that in 2015-16 millions of rupees local purchase was made for the hospital in violation of the official rates.

The speaker directed for inquiry and submitting of the report within a month’s time into the alleged purchase of 20 years old model X-Ray and other machines.

He said most of the departments’ officers come to the PAC meeting without preparation which not only caused them embarrassment but also a waste of time for the PAC.