Pharmacist’s ouster: PIC inquiry report submitted before LHC

Report submitted by govt in contempt of court petition.

LAHORE: A committee that carried out an inquiry into the procurement of medicines for the Punjab Institute of Cardiology has recommended a special audit of the hospital.

The committee, headed by Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Additional Secretary (Administration) Asad Naeem, further recommended improving the system of bill collection for medicine supplies.

The committee’s report was submitted on Wednesday before Justice Shams Mehmood Mirza who is hearing a contempt of court petition filed by Fareeha Majid, a former pharmacist at the PIC.

The committee further recommended that contract/contingent appointments should be discontinued in future. It also recommended appropriate action against M/S Decent Medical Store on the grounds that two different statements were submitted to the PIC management and to the enquiry committee regarding allegations of inflated charge for heart valves.

The committee said that Fareeha Majid was required to forward the bills submitted by Decent Medical Store after correction. “But she returned the bills to the store on her own without intimating her higher-ups. The hospital administration did not probe the matter (of returning of bills to M/S Decent Store) nor took any action against those responsible for it,” the report said.

In her petition, Fareeha Majid had said that rates of certain items were higher in the purchase bills for the month of September, 2015. She further stated that she had intimated her higher ups about the issue, but they told her to sign the bills without correcting the rates. She said that the hospital’s record had been tampered with. “During the financial year 2015-16, several medicines were purchased on exorbitant rates,” she said.

Referring to the findings of a procurement committee of the PIC, the committee said that the issue of medicines purchased at higher rates had been raised ‘unnecessarily’. “The allegations of purchasing medicines at higher rates are false and baseless,” the report said. It quoted findings of another inquiry committee constituted on the orders of the LHC on the request of Leader of the Opposition in Punjab Assembly Mehmoodur Rasheed: “Formalities had been observed by the hospital administration. The items highlighted were not purchased by PIC or any other cardiac institute in the province during year 2015-16 at rates higher than the market.”

Appearing before the court on behalf of Fareeha Majid, Advocate Sheraz Zaka stated that the petitioner had not been given access to any document during the proceedings of the inquiry against her. “How can an impartial inquiry take place without giving a fair chance to the respondent? She was ousted from her job for being a whistleblower,” he said.

After submission of the inquiry report, the judge disposed of the petition.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2016.