QUETTA: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday arrested the director general of Balochistan’s health department, Shakir Baloch, and the medical superintendent of the Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Hospital, Abdul Ghaffar Baloch, for alleged corruption in the purchase of antivenom injections.

A spokesperson for NAB said that an investigation carried out by the bureau into a case of fake purchase of vaccines revealed that Shakir Baloch had approved the purchase of 244,000 injections in violation of rules.

According to the investigation, with the connivance of other accused in the case, he caused a huge loss to the national exchequer by making illegal payments of more than Rs400 million to preferred contractors.

Ghaffar Baloch, who was arrested in the case, illegally gave a contract of over Rs60m, according to the bureau.

The spokesperson said that the Balochistan NAB had also arrested the former additional director of MSD Balochistan, Dr Zulfiqar Baloch, the medical technician and proprietor of Ali Umer Enterprises, Khalid Bhati and Faqir Husain, in a case of alleged embezzlement in the purchase of antivenom injections in the MSD department.

He said the investigation had revealed that the director general and other accused conspired to collect more than Rs400m for the purchase of anti-rabies injections.

An inspection of the government’s store revealed that the purchase price of the injection was received in advance while the supply was shown only in official papers.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2020