MULTAN, Nov 16: Some 10 million syringes worth Rs50 million are missing from the store of the provincial health department in Lahore.

Well-placed sources in the department told Dawn that the huge quantity of syringes had been missing since October while it was being transported to the Director General Health Services (DGHS) office from the health department warehouse.

The mysterious “missing” of the syringes was first noticed by an official of the expanded programme for immunization (EPI). Upon his report of the alleged misappropriation, the health authorities reportedly deputed a former director of health services, Lahore, to probe the matter.

It is learnt that the inquiry officer not only confirmed the embezzlement but had also pointed out other misappropriations in the provincial warehouse of the department. The inquiry officer had also declared responsible a former DGHS of Punjab for the gross misappropriation.

But as reportedly the former DGHS has a strong ‘lobby’ in the corridors of health department, the authorities are reluctant to entertain the inquiry report. Instead, the authorities allegedly tried to hush-up the matter by asking the districts to admit reciepts of the misappropriated syringes. But the district have refused to do so.