Pakistan committee reviews possible disappearance of medicines worth Rs22.825 million at Quetta hospital
The Public Accounts Committee of the Assembly of Pakistan’s Balochistan province expressed concern over the possible disappearance of medicines worth 22.825 million Pakistani rupees from the central store of the Sandeman Provincial Civil Hospital in Quetta. As Dawn reports, the committee instructed the health department and hospital administration to provide documents, explanations and supporting materials within 15 days.
The committee warned that if the explanations are unsatisfactory, it may recommend referring the case to Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau or registering an FIR.
Special audit observations
The meeting chaired by Asghar Ali Tareen reviewed points from the hospital’s special audit for 2022–2023. The committee was told that the medical institution had been allocated or provided with 10.443 billion rupees in the 2017–2018 to 2021–2022 financial years, of which 9.576 billion was spent. At the same time, the health department and hospital management did not provide a full accounting of expenditures and the required documents.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
The committee also reviewed the procurement of medicines worth 30.016 million rupees. According to the special audit, significant violations were identified in the procurement procedure: supply orders were issued to FDL in Peshawar, while payment was made to Health Tech in Quetta. Auditors also pointed to discrepancies between orders and invoices, the absence of entries in the stock register, delivery challans and inspection reports.
Discrepancies in medicine records
The health department told the Departmental Accounts Committee that FDL is the manufacturer and Health Tech is its authorized distributor. However, a number of documents were not provided during the review, including FDL’s consent, the stock register, challans, inspection committee reports and data on batches of medicines.
A separate audit point concerned medicines worth 22.825 million rupees which, according to the special audit’s conclusion, were absent from the hospital’s central store in 2019–2020. The pharmacist responsible had informed the administration about this, but the issue remained unresolved. The department denied the shortage, but a review of documents revealed discrepancies in stock balances that were not satisfactorily explained. The committee chair said he would inform the chief secretary in writing, while the report and the matter would be presented to the Balochistan Assembly.
