NAB seeks LRH’s financial records for two years

Hospital officials say records are being prepared and will be furnished soon

PESHAWAR: The top anti-corruption watchdog in the province has asked a top medical teaching institute and tertiary care hospital to provide records after reports of financial misappropriation and misuse of authority surfaced.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) chapter of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has written a letter to the finance director of the medical teaching institute (MTI) at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) in Peshawar seeking records.

The NAB asked for the information under Section 19 of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999.



According to the letter, NAB has started probing reports of misappropriation of funds and the misuse of authority to make illegal appointments, influencing the tendering process and not recovering utility bills.

The latter, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, asked LRH’s finance director to provide the complete record of funds collected on account of room rent from patients admitted in Bolton Block from 2015-2017.

It also sought the records of funds collected on account of laboratory fees from the pathology department and deposited in reserve fund during the same period.

“Complete record of the electricity bills paid for the residential area of LRH during the year 2015-17,” the letter read.

“Further it is advised to ensure the accuracy of submitted information, concealment of facts or misreporting will attract penalties under the provision of NAO 1999,” it warned.

Officials privy to the development said that the letter had been sent to LRH earlier this month and the hospital management — especially officials in the finance section — were close to finalising the records before sending them to NAB.



“Seeking records does not mean there are misappropriations but this could be a follow up of any complaint,” a senior LRH administration official said, adding, “The facility is bound to facilitate NAB because if the facility refuses to share [information], it could lead to serious consequences.”

When contacted, LRH Media Manager Zulfiqar Babakhel confirmed that NAB had written to them. He added that the request had been processed to the finance department was working on drafting the required information before it is shared with the NAB authorities.

“Yes, we are bound to provide NAB all the relevant records and in fact, the record is being furnished,” Babakhel told The Express Tribune, adding, “This is initial and if there is anything wrong, NAB will make it public like it does in other cases.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2018.