Polyclinic employees’ bail extended in expired dengue test kits case

Court grants time to defence counsel to prepare arguments

ISLAMABAD:

A local court has extended the interim bail of former Deputy Executive Director Finance Dr Amanullah and storekeeper Abid Hussain in the case pertaining to allegedly using expired dengue diagnostic kits and devices with the connivance of contractor Syed Mohammad Shah in the Federal Government Polyclinic Hospital.

The hearing was adjourned at the request of the applicant’s counsel, seeking time for preparing arguments.

On Tuesday, during the hearing of the case in the court of Special Judge Central Muhammad Azam Khan, accused Abid Hussain appeared in the court along with his counsel Sohail Chaudhry, while Dr Amanullah did not appear in the court.

Advocate Chaudhry read the contents of the FIR and argued that his client was being implicated in the ongoing dispute between two medical officers. “My client is not involved in any kind of fraud, cheating or entrapment,” the counsel maintained.

The applicant’s counsel referred various case laws and insisted that his client continued to appear on all inquiries and summons. “It is requested that bail be granted till the completion of the trial,” the counsel requested the court.

At this juncture, the court wondered why the official letter was written by the applicant.

Meanwhile, Investigating Officer Sidra told the court that the applicant should have destroyed the expired kits instead of returning them.

“The record tampering was found by the inquiry committee. Expired kits were used and peoples’ lives were put at risk,” the IO argued.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) registered a formal case in December 2022 against the three suspects after an initial inquiry revealed that the expired diagnostic kits were used for patients suffering from the dengue virus.

In 2019, M/S Ideal Diagnostic System Rawalpindi supplied 27,960 dengue NSI test devices and 7,200 surgery test devices to Polyclinic Islamabad. Of these kits, 8,880 dengue NSI devices and 3,250 dengue serology (IGGIGJ) test devices expired in mid-2021.

It was the contractor's responsibility to provide new devices in place of the expired ones as per the terms of the contract.

However, the then deputy executive director of finance Dr Amanullah and storekeeper Abid instead of destroying the expired devices handed the same over to the M/S Ideal Diagnostic System Rawalpindi.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2023.