PESHAWAR, Aug 4: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has stopped medical supplies to the Project Directorate for Health (PDH) after detecting large-scale irregularities in the procurement of drugs
for Afghan refugees, official sources said.
A group of foreign consultants detected the irregularities in the process of procurement of drugs and medical supplies by the PDH which had caused an annual loss of US $200,000 to the UNHCR, according to official documents.
After the stoppage of funds to the PDH, it was likely to be wound up soon, the sources said. Following the consultants' report, the UN agency had stopped procurement of drugs and medical supplies through the PDH, a governmental body, which had been providing health care services to the refugees for the last three decades.
The UNHCR's Public Relations Officer, Mr Asif Shehzad, confirmed by phone from Islamabad that the UN body had stopped procurement of medicines to the PDH for onward distribution among Afghan refugees in camps and urban areas of the country.
"There are certain reasons due to which the UNHCR has to take over the entire health care network of the refugees," Mr Shahzad said. He said the UNHCR would take drug procurement into its own hands and office of the Chief Commissioner for Afghan Refugees (CCAR) in Islamabad would coordinate the activities.
Director PDH Dr Mohammad Ali Chohan, however, declined to comment. Quoting the director his secretary told Dawn that "I do not want to talk on this issue." An official source said that the PDH had failed to deliver health care services to the refugees and the UN had to stop funds to the directorate, which caused shortage of drugs in the refugee camps.
He said the entire health care network was being revamped and the drug supply and health cover would be resumed shortly. The UNHCR is responsible for the provision of health services and spends the largest proportion of its annual budget on refugees' health.
The Primary Health Care (PHC) programme of the UNHCR is implemented through 117 basic health units (BHUs), operated by 15 Implementing Partners (IPs). The PDH is the largest partner, which received US$2.74 million in 2003.
The consultants found the performance of the IPs generally good, with the main exception of the PDH. The study which was conducted by independent consultants last year suggested to decentralize procurement "whereby tendering process, drug quality control and control of procedures need to be executed three times instead of once".
In their recommendations the consultants proposed to improve the poor performance of PDH, either through discontinuing co- operation with PDH as an implementing partner, or restructuring/downsizing PDH, or - as a minimal option - improving the status quo.
