Holy Family Hospital suspends five officials

Move based on inquiry report by three-member committee

RAWALPINDI: Authorities at the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) on Monday suspended five employees for their alleged involvement in stealing medicines from the hospital’s pharmacy and selling it in the market, officials said.



A senior doctor at HFH told The Express Tribune that HFH Medical Superintendent Dr Raja Shafique Sarwar had suspended Pharmacy Technician Zahid Khan, HFH Emergency Supervisor Farooq, Pharmacy shift in-charge Sheikh Afsar, and pharmacy employees Wajid, and Qurban.

The employees were suspended after an inquiry was conducted by the hospital’s administration.

The inquiry was launched Zahid had been arrested by the New Town Police on Saturday for stealing medicines from the pharmacy and selling them in the market.

A three-member committee, headed by HFH Emergency Director Dr Haroonur Rasheed and consisting of Stores and Finance Additional Medical Superintendent Dr Farooq, and Emergency Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Ahmed Abdullah probed the alleged theft.

The committee probed the matter and submitted its report to the HFH medical superintendent within 24 hours.



While the five men were suspended, the hospital administration is expected to start disciplinary action against the employees once the police investigations into the matter end.

Earlier on Saturday, police had received a tip-off from the special branch about officials selling in the open market drugs meant for patients at the hospital. They caught Zahid red-handed and recovered stolen medicines from him.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2017.