Evading responsibility: At Holy Family Hospital, no headway in cases of expired drugs, machinery theft

Substandard medicines supplied to hospital were sold to drug stores.

RAWALPINDI:

The police and the Holy Family Hospital’s management have failed to make any headway in fixing responsibility for the theft of its machinery and the resale of expired drugs.

According to a senior official of the hospital administration, the New Town police have made no progress despite interrogating the suspects several times. “The hospital administration is waiting for the police report to take action against those who sold spurious drugs and stole hospital machinery,” said the official requesting anonymity.

A supplier, whose identity could not be ascertained, supplied expired medicines to the hospital some time back. But according to the official, instead of disposing of the substandard medicines, drug inspector Malik Arshad in connivance with store in-charge Ansar Mehmood, ward boy Hanif and another official Zahid Shah allegedly sold the medicines worth Rs1 million to drug stores. No case was registered against the supplier, just its contract was cancelled, he said.

The official claimed that the suspects also stole machinery worth Rs5 million from the hospital’s laboratory and switchers worth Rs1.5 million, but no action had been taken against them. According to the official, four cases of theft were reported at the hospital. “The administration is trying to hush up the matter by making ward boy Tanveer a scapegoat in all the cases.”

He held the administrators responsible for the theft cases and the sale of substandard drugs. “The drug inspector and the store in-charge wouldn’t dare to do so without the involvement of senior officials,” said the official, adding that action should also be taken against the hospital administration for its negligence and indirect connivance.

“Two weeks have passed, an internal inquiry has been completed but no report has been submitted either by the police or by the inquiry team,” the official claimed. “God knows how many patients have been sold expired and substandard medicines from the store and by the private chemists,” he said.

Holy Family Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Arshad Sabir said that they had completed an internal inquiry into both the cases and the results would be shared with the media in two to three days.

“We have also improved our internal security arrangements to avoid such incidents in the future,” he claimed, adding that strict action would be taken against those responsible.

New Town SHO Ijaz Shah could not be reached for comments on the issue despite repeated calls on his cell phone.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2014.