No ventilators: LRH officials could be charged with murder for negligence

Anti-corruption department official says other irregularities related to purchase detected

PESHAWAR: Anti-corruption department Deputy Director Javed Afridi said he will recommend the framing of murder charges against the relevant Lady Reading Hospital officials if any patients lost their lives due to the lack of a ventilator.

“There are nine ventilators at the ICU and you will not believe me when I say that eight of these devices have been out of order for the last eight months,” the official told The Express Tribune. He added the administration was asked to provide a record of those patients who lost their lives due to the absence of a ventilator.

“Once we have the data, I will recommend our seniors write to the government to register murder FIRs against those responsible as the ventilators could have been repaired, but were not,” he said.

Apart from this, other irregularities were detected in the purchase of medicine, construction and the ventilators themselves.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Afridi said there is a Rs100 million budget for the purchase of medicine of which 30% could be utilised in one go.

“There are two kinds of purchase mechanisms. One is known as bulk purchase and the other is local purchase. Bulk purchase is cost-effective because medicine is procured at a wholesale rate while local purchase is more expensive. We have detected that they opt for local purchase option on purpose,” he said.

Afridi added an enquiry had been initiated into the ventilators case.

“I visited a building which was constructed to be used as sarai or accommodation for relatives of the patients. It was inaugurated in 2010, but never used for the [intended] purpose.” He added LRH was a big mess and anti-corruption authorities are investigating several cases.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2016.