KARACHI: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Sindh Assembly was informed on Thursday that X-ray, ultrasound, ECG and other essential diagnostic machines had remained non-functional for years in several Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) run hospitals.
The committee, which met under the chairmanship of Nisar Khuhro in a room at the provincial assembly to review the audit paras of the KMC for 2024 and 2025, expressed strong displeasure at the state of affairs at KMC-run hospitals and ordered an inquiry by the Chief Minister’s Inspection Team (CMIT).
Audit officials told the PAC that during the inspection, diagnostic equipment, including X-ray, ultrasound and ECG machines, was found to be non-functional in Sobhraj Maternity Hospital and other KMC-run facilities.
The medical superintendent of Sobhraj Hospital conceded that the hospital’s X-ray machine had remained out of order from 2022 to 2025 and had only recently been repaired.
Khuhro directs CMIT to investigate non-functional X-ray, CT scan, ultrasound, MRI and ECG machines at hospitals across Sindh and submit a report within a month
The PAC chairman questioned how the country’s largest municipal body could not arrange funds to repair a single X-ray machine for three years.
“The Sindh government is providing billions of rupees for free treatment and facilities to patients. If machines remain faulty, it is a case of negligence by officers, which will not be tolerated,” he observed.
Committee member Taha Ahmed said that the prolonged breakdown of diagnostic machines had caused immense hardship to patients for four years and pointed to a wider malaise across the province, where MRI and other expensive machines were either faulty or non-operational because of a lack of technical staff, allegedly forcing patients to get tests done from private laboratories outside.
Mr Khuhro directed the CMIT to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the non-functional X-ray, CT scan, ultrasound, MRI and ECG machines in all hospitals under the KMC, as well as other hospitals across Sindh, and submit a report within one month.
KMC Municipal Commissioner Abrar Ahmed Jafar informed the PAC that 13 hospitals were functioning under the KMC and that the mayor was personally visiting hospitals to ensure provision of services.
Biometric attendance
Taking up another audit objection regarding ghost employees, the committee chairman inquired about compliance with its earlier directive to install a biometric attendance system and conduct physical verification of KMC employees.
The municipal commissioner informed the meeting that the KMC had over 10,000 employees and that instructions for physical verification had been issued to heads of all departments.
Expressing annoyance over the non-implementation of its earlier order, the PAC ordered physical verification of all employees, verification of the educational degrees of over 10,000 staff members by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), and the immediate installation of a biometric attendance system to identify employees drawing salaries while sitting at home.
The committee directed the provincial chief secretary to ensure that its orders were implemented.
Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2026
