Audit of procurement of medicines at PIC sought

Inquiry report recommends that appointments on contract basis be discontinued


Rana Tanveer June 19, 2016
Lahore High Court. PHOTO: FILE

LAHORE: Last week, the report of an inquiry on allegations that the Punjab Institute of Cardiology administration was procuring medicines at inflated rates was submitted in the Lahore High Court (LHC).

The inquiry committee headed by Asad Naeem, the Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education administration additional secretary, recommended that the Audit Department director general should be consulted to hold a special audit of procurement of medicines at the PIC. It also suggested that record keeping and system for collection of bills for medicines procured needed improvements.

The inquiry had been held on the directions of the LHC on a petition filed by Fareeha Majid, a former pharmacist at the PIC. It said the petitioner had been sacked by the PIC administration for raising her voice over the issue. The committee suggested that appointments on contract/contingent basis should be discontinued. It suggested that action should be taken against M/S Decent Medical Store for submitting two different statements to the PIC management and the inquiry committee. The pharmacy was also found to have quoted inflated rates for heart valves.

This was not the first instance where irregularities had been highlighted in medicines’ procurement procedures at the PIC.  In 2012, a judicial inquiry conducted by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, now the LHC chief justice, had found “major structural weakness and loopholes in the administrative process and procedures” at the PIC.  The inquiry had been conducted in the aftermath of deaths of 213 cardiac patients apparently due to use of spurious medicines provided to them at the hospital.

The report had stated that the manner in which medicines were procured, received, stored, documented and dispensed was not in consonance with requirements for running an organised and efficient healthcare facility.

The tribunal had recommended that an internal inquiry be held and departmental action initiated against those found responsible for receiving, verifying and sending out batches of medicine received for testing.

It had said that the pharmacy should be separated from the hospital, an air-conditioned storage facility should be arranged for keeping medicine stock and that a one-to-50 ratio should of pharmacists to patients should be attained. The tribunal had recommended that the Aga Khan Hospital in Karachi should be consulted for establishing a model pharmacy at the PIC. It said the model should be replicated at all major hospitals in the province. The administrative tasks should be undertaken by trained personnel trained.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20th, 2016.

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