Unsatisfactory performance: Court questions funds’ use at Hyderabad civil hospital

Petitioner of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Welfare Society says they provide free blood to the patients in hospital

HYDERABAD:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has ordered to investigate the utilisation of funds by the administration of Civil Hospital, Hyderabad. The decision was made on a petition filed by a welfare organisation which claimed that the administration had asked them to vacate the premises which they were using for a private blood bank. The petitioner, Aamir Zardari of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Welfare Society, said they provide free blood to the patients in the hospital.

“The claim of the petitioner to have been engaged in shouldering the responsibilities of the hospital is nothing but an alarming situation which can’t be allowed to go unnoticed,” said the order.

The division bench of justices Sadiq Hussain Bhatti and Salahuddin Panhwar acknowledged the importance of the assistance of non-governmental organisations that work as ‘helping hands’. “But the same cannot allow an escape to the obligations of the government hospitals, particularly when huge funds are provided by the government.”

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The hospital gets well over a billion rupees in the annual budget allocation. According to the order, Hyderabad division commissioner Syed Asif Hyder Shah will investigate the utilisation of funds between June 2014 and June 2015. He would also examine the present state of services at the hospital and report any irregularity. The report will have to be submitted on the next date of hearing scheduled for August 13.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2015.