Anaesthesia of authority: Inquiry launched against ex-RMC principal, others

Officials face charges of financial misappropriations and misuse of authority.

RAWALPINDI:

The Punjab government has initiated disciplinary action against a former principal of Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC) and 28 other officials of the three allied hospitals in the city. The government plans to probe alleged financial misappropriations and misuse of authority by these individuals, official sources said.

The inquiry was initiated on the orders of Punjab chief minister and is being conducted by Arshad Bin Ahmed, Secretary Human Rights and Minorities Punjab. The investigation will take place under the Punjab Employees, Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act 2006.

According to official documents available with The Express Tribune, Dr Muhammad Musadaq Khan, former RMC principal, is facing charges on 15 counts, including leaving the country for USA without getting a leave and not obtaining a no-objection certificate from the higher authorities.

The inquiry officer has received the written responses of most of the accused officials but some of them, including the former principal, are yet to file their replies to the charges levelled against them.

Charges against Dr Khan, who is also a famous surgeon, include issuing a fake house job certificate to his son and not initiating legal action against five doctors who were regularised despite the fact they were never hired on contract by the provincial health department. Moreover the government will also probe misuse of authority where Dr Khan selected a doctor as medical officer when her name was not even included in the list of candidates. He also, according to the charge sheet, included names of three unqualified doctors in the list of final interviews for a post.

Dr Khan, it has been alleged, assigned major duties to junior doctors in violation of the rules, awarded contracts for provision of substandard syringes, made clandestine deals for the purchase of chemical analysers and costly kits for medical tests.

Similarly, he allegedly ignored the purchase committee while buying incinerators, approved irregular expenses for shifting the elevator from HFH to BBH after its spare parts were stolen from HFH, transferred funds from Bank of Punjab to JS Bank without prior approval of the provincial government and installed generators and air-conditioners in a non-transparent manner.

The document also reveals that investigations of Dr Khan’s tenure will be carried out for committing irregularities in the purchase of a computerisation programme and health management information system for the HFH.

Other officials facing inquiry include Dr Muhammad Hussain Baloch, former medical superintendent District Headquarter Hospital (DHQ) Rawalpindi, Chaudhry Tariq Mehmood purchase officer RMC, Nisar Ahmed former director administration RMC, Dr Khalid Iqbal Malik former medical superintendent DHQ, and some additional and deputy medical superintendents of Holy Family Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH).

Mehmood is accused of purchasing substandard syringes, costly chemical analysers, making clandestine deals for the purchase of ventilators and other financial irregularities.

Other doctors and officials of technical advisory committee have been accused of not properly giving out their assessments while making secret purchase deals and not scrutinising the appointments of doctors.

According to official RMC sources, the inquiry officer has been given 60 days to complete his report but he can ask for more time if needed.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28^th, 2011.