ISLAMABAD: Five Polyclinic officials have been suspended by the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) in a case regarding alleged embezzlement in medical gas tenders.

According to a notification available with Dawn, the officials will remain suspended until further orders.

Copies of the notification have been sent to all concerned officers, the personal files of the five officials and the Printing Corporation of Pakistan to be published in the Gazette of Pakistan.

Suspensions follow SC hearing during which court was informed officials were working on their posts despite ongoing trial

The officials were suspended after a Supreme Court hearing a few days ago, where it emerged that they were still working at the hospital while the case against them was in trial.

The suspended officials are deputy executive directors Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Naru and Dr Fayyaz Ahmed Sheikh, anaesthetist Dr Asmatullah Sumbul, Dr Farrukh Iqbal and marketing officer Farhan Sikandar.

Polyclinic spokesperson Dr Sharif Astori said the officials were arrested in 2016 but obtained bail and had continued at their posts while the cases against them continued.

He added that suspended officers still have to come to the hospital and continue to receive their salaries, but are not given any responsibilities.

Polyclinic Executive Director Dr Shahid Hanif said the officials had been arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency and were released after securing bail.

Dr Hanif added that the CADD secretary decided to suspend the officials this week, after a three member SC bench headed by the chief justice was informed that they had been working at their posts even though the case against them had not yet been decided.

The FIA had arrested the five hospital officials, as well as a CADD official and two contractors, after the SC took suo motu notice of the case.

During hearings, it was alleged that medical gases had been purchased at almost 10 times the market rate, and the FIA was directed to investigate the matter.

The FIA submitted a report in court alleging that the purchase of medical gases and other items at higher rates cost Polyclinic Rs35 million.

The case also started a debate over a centralised system for the purchase of items for health institutions in the federal capital, as prices fall when the quantity of purchased items rises.

Two years later, the proposal has not been implemented ad hospitals continue to purchase medicines and other equipment separately.

A doctor from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences said it would be better if the government began buying items collectively and then distributing them among health institutions according to demand.

The doctor added: “Unfortunately, in hospitals doctors have been made responsible for the purchase of medicines and gases and they are not aware of how these things should be purchased. Procurement is a specialised subject, and doctors cannot do procurement at all.

“However, can we expect that a doctor who spends most of the time teaching or in the operation theatre would be aware of the wholesale and retail rates of gases?”

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2018