PAC sees financial management at ATH

PESHAWAR: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the KP Assembly has expressed concern over the poor audit and financial management at the Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH) Abbottabad in an audit report of the year 2016-17

and ordered the Health Department to initiate strict disciplinary action against those responsible for the practice.

According to an official handout, the committee directed to fix the responsibility on the officials concerned as well as ensuring recoveries of losses caused to the public money.

It underlined the need for foolproof audit performance of Departmental Accounts Committees (DACs) so that precious time and energy of PAC and officials of the government departments was saved.

The decisions were made during a meeting of the PAC on disposing of audit reports of various institutions of the Health Department during the years 2013-17.

The meeting was chaired by MPA Muhammad Idrees at KP Assembly Secretariat Peshawar. Besides MPAs Salahuddin and Arbab Waseem, the officials of the Health, Law, Finance, Accounts & Audit departments and KP Assembly were there as well.

The committee ordered recovery of Rs 7.584 million in respect of over-payment of house subsidy to the officials of Ayub Medical College Abbottabad during 2013-14.

Similarly the cases of loss of Rs 13.612 million due to purchase of medicines on excessive rates and Rs 10.372 million in the award of pharmacy contract in Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad (ATHA) during 2016-17, loss of Rs 43.420 million by Saidu Group of Hospitals Swat in 2016-17 and overpayment of Rs 12.591 million by DHQs Hospital

Nowshera in 2015-16 due to costly purchase of

drugs, the items were referred to the relevant quarters for conducting transparent inquiries and fixing responsibly of the lethargies.