Cost of liver transplant institute surprises CJP

Wonders if five hospitals could be built in Rs34b spent on PKLI project

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has expressed annoyance over the Punjab government’s slackness to take effective steps on healthcare issues.

The three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing the matter related to alleged billions of rupees misappropriation from the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Transplant Institute (PKLI) project.

The bench noted performance of the provincial government is slow as all affairs related to healthcare have been halted, adding even healthcare board has not been established so far.

The bench gave two weeks to the provincial cabinet to take decision on the summary to decide about administrative control of PKLI project where Rs22 billion have so far been spent but the hospital is not functional.



The court also ordered to include Surgeon General of Pakistan in the interim administrative committee, which is looking after affairs of the project. It also asked to take consent from the Army regarding inclusion of Surgeon General of Pakistan in the interim body within one week.

Earlier, the SC had constituted an interim committee led by a retired SC judge, Iqbal Hameedur Rehman, to look after affairs of the project.

During the hearing, the chief justice wondered if five hospitals could be built in Rs34 billion spent for this project.

PKLI president, CEO and head of urology Dr Saeed Akhtar stated he hasn’t drawn salary since past three years and 21 kidney transplant operations were done.  However, the CJP noted, the project was about lever transplant as kidney transplant operations are already being done in other hospitals.

The chief justice also asked him why trust was created to take over the control of hospital and whether it was established by the ex-CM Shehbaz Sharif due to special relationship as billions have been spent on salaries.



He also said the matter should directly be referred to NAB or the anti-corruption department while adjourning hearing of the case for two weeks.

Earlier, the forensic report on alleged misappropriation of fund in the PKLI project has identified political interference by Shehbaz Sharif. The interference resulted in loss of approximately Rs3.2 billion.

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, on June 30 ordered the Digital Forensic Research & Services Director General Kaukab Jamal Zubairi to conduct a forensic audit of the institute.

The 43-page audit report has mainly addressed the SC’s concern about the utilisation of Rs19.5 billion, which later increased to approximately Rs23.5 billion.

The audit team conducted interviews of 29 individuals including the PKLI president, CEO and head of urology Dr Saeed Akhtar.

Shehbaz, in a reply to queries, said he had no role in the functioning of the PKLI.

However, the report recommended that an investigative agency with experience in probe of white-collar crimes may investigate affairs of stakeholders including Shehbaz, the PKLI, CPG Arcorp, IDAP, SCH&ME, P&D Department, Finance Department, ZKB & Reliable JV and NESPAK.

The report said during the course of forensic examination, it transpired that unauthorised payments, misuse of resources, weak internal controls, illegal practices adopted by Punjab government on the directives of Shehbaz and negligence of various government officers in Punjab’s health, planning and development and finance departments resulted in the payment of Rs20.6 billion to the PKLI.

The report reveals that during interviews it had transpired that the then CM decreased the timeline to inaugurate the project before elections to support his political campaign. The project was inaugurated before it was complete. It seems that project will be completed somewhere in 2020.

It said the CPG Arcorp JV designed the project to be completed in 36 months, but the then CM interfered with the project and decreased the timeline to 14 month. This resulted in increased overhead expenses by 15% to be included by the CPG Arcorp.

Nespak also received another 5% for the special project vehicle (SPV), a term with no legal explanation.  It was created to pay an allowance to the project management companies for fast-track projects.

“It seems that the then CM used the project to satisfy his political goals and to inaugurate it in his term.  The president of PKLI&RC and its board of governors also approved the revised timeline and thus billions of rupees were lost due to apparently careless actions taken without any planning. There is an estimated loss of approximately Rs3.2 billion rupees due to these actions,” said the report.