Justification needed: CADD seeks utilisation details from PIMS administration

Hospital demanded Rs80 million for security, ministry agrees to release Rs60 million.

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) has sought utilisation details from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) administration before releasing Rs60 million requested to improve security at the.

The Pims administration had demanded Rs80 million from CADD, but the latter has only agreed to release Rs60 million, with a stipulation that the hospital administration provide justification for where the money will go.

CADD Secretary Khalid Hanif told The Express Tribune that he asked the Pims administration to send a utilisation breakdown so that the amount could be released without further delay.

“I want to know how much they are planning to spend and for what purpose so that after the sum is released, the hospital administration does not face funds shortages,” he said.

Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University Vice-Chancellor Prof Javed Akram, meanwhile, claimed that the hospital administration has shared all the details sought by CADD.

“We have already installed around 58 CCTV cameras, barbed wire on the hospital’s boundary wall and hired 53 security guards. Now, we are waiting for the money to be released to pay for expenditure incurred so far,” he said.

A senior Pims administration official, who wished not to be named, said procurement for security upgradation was still under way.

“The purchasing of 48 CCTV cameras is still being done... bidding will hopefully be on April 14,” the official said, which would contradict Akram’s statement on cameras.

“Only after the bidding will be in a position to say how much will be required for the CCTV cameras,” said the official, adding that the process would take more than two months.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2015.