Rs10.3m worth of doctors’ salaries ‘embezzled’

PMA leader says most professionals undergoing training not paid for months

MULTAN:

Some junior officials of Nishtar Hospital are facing an inquiry over embezzlement of Rs10.3 million worth of salaries of house officers (HO) and postgraduates resident (PGR) trainees.

Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) leader Dr Masood Hiraj alleged while addressing a news conference that the salaries of HOs and PGRs serving at Nishtar Hospital had been embezzled.

He stated that most of the trainee doctors were not getting their salaries. “PGRs have been working without salaries for several months because of the non-availability of paid seats in the health facility,” he said.

Dr Hiraj claimed that over Rs3 million had been credited to the account of a Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) student in the name of salaries of the doctors from January to August this year.

He added that a computer operator, Bilal, who deals with HOs and PGRs salaries in the hospital, was another suspect of the scam.

“At least Rs9million was deposited in Bilal’s account for the last 18 months,” he alleged.

He added that the association had received complaints from doctors about the situation.

“The computer operator used to transfer the salary of those PGRs who availed leaves or completed their training to his or his friend Arsalan’s account,” said Dr Hiraj.

He appealed to the Punjab CM, provincial minister for health and Anti-Corruption Establishment to investigate the misappropriation of salaries of doctors and expose the accused.

He also urged the authorities concerned to make the salary process of HOs and PGRs transparent to avoid such incidents in the future.

When Nishtar Medical University Finance Director Ghazanfar Abbas was contacted, he said that an inquiry against Bilal is underway wherein he has admitted that he had misappropriated the money.

He said that Director Administration Dr Tariq Jamil was conducting the inquiry, adding that they had come to know about the scam around 15 days back.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2020.