ISLAMABAD: The executive committee of the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has decided to engage a third party for the audit of embezzlements to the tune of Rs409 million in the now-defunct Pakistan Medical Commission.

After gathering the evidence and all other necessary documents, the committee on Tuesday decided to implement measures to prevent such incidents in future, and an external audit would ensure accountability.

According to a statement issued by the PMDC, the committee investigated “many irregularities” in payments made during the previous tenure by the erstwhile PMC, amounting to hundreds of millions of rupees which includes payments made to a private consortium allegedly before the signing of the agreement, nebulous payments for IT equipment, software, etc.

“The committee recently investigated anomalies in payments made in the previous tenure of PMC in conducting MDCAT 2022 amounting to Rs409.32 million which includes payments made to a private consortium of around 122 million, a day before the signing of the agreement,” the statement claimed and added that the agreement was signed on Aug 17, 2022, whereas an advance payment of Rs122m was made on Aug 6 for the exam.

Council says Rs122m paid to private company before signing of agreement

“Astonishingly the payment was made to the private consortium and the taxes were paid through another company. The company…was not even registered with [the] FBR nor with [the] Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) as a consortium. It did not fall under the definition of [a] government entity and the agreement made was in clear violation of [the] Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) Rules,” it stated.

“After [a] detailed scrutiny, the committee found another scam…in the procurement of network IT equipment i.e. servers, switches, controllers, access points and firewall… [ in violation of] the PPRA Rules. The installed software licence in servers and the tender documents were completely different,” it said, adding that there were discrepancies in items delivered and bill of quantities published in the tender document for the procurement.

“Shockingly, anomalies were also found in the procurement of miscellaneous equipment…and all the procurements were done to give financial favours to their blue-eyed company,” it claimed.

“[The] members emphasised that the PMDC Council was a combination of eminent members from all over the country with highest reputations as doctors, professors, surgeon general, legal experts, auditor, [and] health secretaries of all provinces. After assuming the charge, the council has started working devotedly for betterment medical and dental profession and working tirelessly to make PMDC more efficient as a regulator as well as a facilitator. The council has taken up all the matters and affairs of PMDC on priority as per rules and law,” the statement further claimed.

“They added after making all necessary arrangements for transition from PMC to PMDC the first priority of the council is to achieve the accreditation of [the] World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) so that our doctor[s] and students may not face any problem internationally,” it stated.

It is worth mentioning that the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz-led government had abolished the PMC established by the PTI and restored the PMDC after a large number of complaints. Earlier this year, the PMC ceased to exist after President Arif Alvi assented to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Bill, 2022. The bill was passed by the parliament in December 2022.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2023