Fake prescriptions issued by PIMS, PAC learns

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday learnt about fake prescriptions issued by the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) without patients’ IDs and doctors’ signatures.

The committee chaired by Rana Tanveer Hussain reviewed audit paras of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination on Thursday. Audit officials told that they checked some 400 prescriptions and found 82 of them fake as they did not bear identification numbers of patients and signatures by doctors.

The health secretary said an investigation into the matter would take a month to conclude.

The committee directed the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation, and Coordination to submit a report.

Further, audit officials said the former secretary of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council was convicted by the National Accountability Bureau and Rs23 million were recovered from him while Rs41 million are yet to be recovered. The committee chairman directed NAB to complete the recovery process.

The audit officials apprised the committee that PIMS did not carry out civil work from PWD and instead opted for a contractor, which was against the rules and regulations.

A committee member, Shahida Akhtar, asked if the amount was used for civil work.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2021.