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| October 30, 2006 | Monday | Shawwal 6, 1427 |
Medicine scam offence against humanity
MIANWALI, Oct 29: The district health department is in the dock these days, as a scam of millions of rupees in the bulk purchase of spurious and expired medicines has been unearthed.
Earlier, the Mianwali district was in the grip of corruption scandals with the revelation of promotions in the education department on fake degrees, and embezzlement of millions of rupees in the General Post Office and establishment of a park in the district courts.
Sources told Dawn that the provincial government had prescribed a procedure for the bulk purchase of medicines for the public hospitals. According to rules, the EDO (health) is supposed to invite requisitions of medicines from the district and tehsil headquarters hospitals and rural health centres which are to be whetted by a committee, comprising the EDO, the DHQ hospital medical superintendent, the district officer (health), the drug inspector, the district physician and the district surgeon.
The committee then advertises the demands through the Directorate General Public Relations in at least four national dailies to seek tenders from pre-qualified supplier companies. The tenders of the supplier are received by the EDO office and opened in the presence of the committee and the bidders.
In case the amount of demanded purchase exceeds Rs600,000, a special purchase committee, comprising the EDO (health), the EDO (finance & planning), the DHQ MS, the DO (health), a co-opt member for technical guidance, besides the DCO who is the head, has to process the case. Moreover, in case of demand for imported medicines, the importers/distributors of only such medicines can participate in the bids.
However, the health department violated the rules and invited the requisitions for the medicines towards the end of the last financial year, though it should have done so immediately after the funds were made available. As a result, the authorities concerned were left with little time to scrutinise the funds that were about to lapse.
Capitalising on the situation, EDO (Health) Dr Mumtaz Ahmad and his accomplice Ahmad Hassan Qureshi, a dispenser who has been assigned an important post in purchase section as well as that of storekeeper, allegedly orchestrated the shady deal. Ahmad Hassan, accordingly, arranged blank papers to be used for drafting as pre-qualified distributors of medicines.
After receiving tenders from the interested suppliers, these were opened stealthily at the EDO office and the masterminds came to know about the tender prices before their actual opening in the presence of the committee. The officials also prepared some fake tenders and incorporated them in the genuine ones which paved the way for corruption.
By doing so the two officials acted as the suppliers of the required medicines. Then they struck a deal with the suppliers who gave them a stock of spurious and expired medicines that were without the green packing having the stamp bearing: “District government’s property not for sale”.
The EDO office then supplied the medicines to different hospitals some of which objected to the supply of such stuff time and again but had to keep silent when the EDO issued them show-cause notices.
In some cases the EDO summoned the officials who raised objections and gave them an ante-dated letter authorising the purchase of ‘undesired’ medicines as a substitute to the required stock. He led the officials to believe that the letter had been issued with the approval of the purchase committee.
Although the release of funds to the supplier is allowed only on the actual supply of medicines and the positive report of the DTL (drug-testing laboratory), the EDO bypassed the procedure and issued a letter No MW/7328/CS on July 27, 2006, to all the drawing and disbursing officers of the hospitals, asking them to submit the demand draft payment to Ahmad Hassan instead of sending the same directly to the supplier company even if the medicines were not supplied and the DTL report not submitted.
Consequently, the officials concerned made huge payments to the nominated person even without the actual supply of medicines with few of the hospitals objecting to the procedure.
For instance, Dr Tariq Masood Khan, the district physician and cardiologist, demanded purchase of Isokat injection of Akto Company for heart patients but the EDO office supplied a cheaper injection of another company through a firm which is allegedly being run by the front man of the regional director audit, Sargodha. Dr Tariq, however, refused to accept the injections but the EDO forced him to pay for the stuff he had been given on demand.
Similarly, Mian Khurshid Ali Shah, the storekeeper of DHQ hospital, objected to the supply of medicines and the EDO served a notice on him. The EDO allegedly compelled the hospital to accept the substandard medicines supplied as a substitute to the stock it had demanded.
Sources said the health department was also plundering public money in complicity with the contractors for the local purchase of medicines.
They said a firm namely M/S Batala Pharma, Lori adda, Musakhel, had been granted a contract to supply medicines on a local-purchase basis to all the nine RHCs in the district. The firm supplied the medicines to the RHCs at different rates. For example, they supplied gentamycine injection for Rs6 to some RHCs and for Rs16 to some others.
As the irregularities hit the headlines in the recent past, DCO Saqib Aleem constituted an inquiry committee, headed by EDO (Finance & Planning) Sakhawat Ali Rana. DDO (Revenue) Wajid Ali Shah, DHDC programme director Dr Muhammad Khan and DHQ hospital pharmacist Ms Yasmin Akhtar were its members.
In a 60-page report, the committee confirmed the malpractice in the procurement of medicines. Interestingly, the EDO got himself transferred to his home district Faisalabad immediately after the report reached the DCO.
Social circles have urged the chief minister to take stock of the corruption and bring the culprits to book.
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