FIA to probe CDA hospital

Senate sub-panel told recruitments were halted over quotas

ISLAMABAD:

The top investigating agency of the country has been asked to probe alleged irregularities at a hospital managed by the apex civic authority of the federal capital.

This was directed on Tuesday by a sub-committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior which met at the Parliament House with Senator Rana Maqbool in the chair.

The sub-panel reviewed matters about recruitments in the Capital Development Authority (CDA) Hospital in a transparent manner with measures to improve the performance of the hospital.

As an example of the impact the irregular recruitments had on the hospital’s performance, Senator Javed Abbasi pointed to the facility’s performance at the height of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Another example, he said, was the ventilators in the hospital. Senator Abbasi claimed that the hospital had eight unused ventilators but they were seeking additional equipment from different countries.

Moreover, he said that a Cardiac Centre had been established at the CDA hospital in 2014 but it has yet to treat a patient. He, however, added that machines may stop working if they remain unused for an extended period.

Even though billions were spent on constructing the hospital, the facility did not have an in-charge to run its blood bank.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator, whose party had ruled the country for five years from 2013 to 2018, said that more than 200 seats have been lying vacant at the CDA hospital with no recruitment drive carried out since 2011.

He termed this as criminal negligence which needs to be probed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and action should be taken against those responsible.

CDA Hospital’s Executive Director (ED) Fayyaz Lodhi told the sub-committee that the cardiac centre and ventilators installed at the facility could not be used because they did not have the sufficient technical staff to run them.

He confirmed that no new staff had been recruited at the facility since 2011, adding that the relevant authority was responsible for new recruitments.

Recently, he said, the hiring process had been launched and was about to be completed when issues on the implementation of provincial quotas were raised in the Senate. Hence, the process was brought to a halt.

The official added that a fresh advertisement for recruitment on 202 vacant seats, in consonance with the provincial quota, will be published soon.

CDA Finance Member told participants of the sub-committee that the management of the hospital was not responsible for delay in recruitments but other related authorities.

He asserted that nobody was ready to take responsibility.

The committee’s chairman said that hospitals are established to provide healthcare services to the public.

Lamenting that residents of the federal capital have been deprived of basic health services due to maladministration, Maqbool stated that they will be counted amongst the sinners if they did not take action against the officials responsible.

Vowing to address all matters relating to the CDA Hospital, the committee referred the issue to the FIA and directed the agency to submit a report within a month.

However, Senator Shafiq Tareen said that the inquiry must be carried out in such a manner that the operations of the hospital are not disturbed.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2020.