HFH’s budget for medicines lapses

Payments to contractors put on hold

RAWALPINDI:

Alleged negligence on the part of the Holy Family Hospital administration has led to the lapse of a Rs60 million budget allocated for medicines.

As a consequence of this budget lapse, payments to all contractors responsible for supplying medicines and health-related items have been put on hold.

This marks the second occurrence of funds lapsing at Holy Family Hospital. This year's provincial budget was approved for a four-month period, spanning from July 1 to October 31, 2023. The District Accounts Office had set an October 26 deadline for the approval of fund disbursement checks.

While checks for other institutions were processed on schedule, Holy Family Hospital submitted its checks to the District Accounts Office on October 27 for approval. However, the District Accounts Office declined to sign and approve the checks, citing time constraints as the reason. This led to the budget amount lapsing, causing concern among contractors. The release of new funds will await the announcement of the new budget.

On the other hand, the district accounts office did not process checks amounting to over Rs10 million due to delays, and bills worth Rs50 million also remained pending.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2023.