KARACHI, Aug 10: Various machines procured by the Institute of Skin Disease Sindh (ISDS) two and a half months ago, are still not being used due to a financial dispute between the Accountant-General Sindh and the contractors hired by the hospital management for the procurement of the machines.

Sources in the hospital told Online that the machines in question costing Rs5.4 million were procured in the last budget but their bills were still pending due to the lethargic attitude of the officials concerned.

According to sources, due to the non-issuance of the contractors' bills, all the machines are lying in the corridors of the hospital.

Sources said that all the bills had already been cleared by the AG Sindh, however, due to reasons best known to the authority concerned, the bills were not being issued to the contractors.

The contractors had threatened the hospital administration that if the bills were not issued within the next few days, they would have no other option but to take the machines back.

The sources said that the Sindh government had allocated special funds to the tune of Rs5.4 million in the last fiscal for the only public-sector skin hospital in Sindh. —Online