KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Karachi, on Friday decided to initiate a probe against a delay in construction of the trauma centre of Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital.

A NAB spokesperson said that the trauma centre was constructed after a lapse of several years, resultantly its cost increased from Rs6 billion to Rs16bn and it was “hurriedly” inaugurated in 2015 while it was still under construction.

The official added that in a meeting of the NAB board chaired by Karachi director general Mohammad Altaf Bawany on Friday, an initial probe was authorised for verification on a complaint received against authorities privy to the construction of the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Accident Emergency and Trauma Centre, popularly known as trauma centre of Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi.

It was alleged that the project was initiated in 2007 and it was supposed to be completed in 2012 with an estimated cost of Rs6bn.

However, after a lapse of several years and expenditure of Rs16bn, the project was still not completed and instead was inaugurated in 2015 without completion.

“It is also alleged that an additional amount of millions of rupees has been sought from the Sindh health department for its completion,” a NAB statement said.

The Sindh government had established the trauma centre “in order to meet the challenges of management of trauma-related emergencies”.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2018