ISLAMABAD: The auditor general of Pakistan has objected to the overpayment of Rs308 million to employees of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) as a health professional allowance (HPA).

Moreover, as the allowance is given only to the employees of hospitals, it has been recommended to recover the amount and discontinue the practice forthwith.

However, Drap Chief Executive Officer Dr Asim Rauf said the allowance was approved by the policy board and included in the salaries of last month. He said such objections were settled in the past and hoped that it would be settled again by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Says as health professional allowance is given only to employees of hospitals, the money should be recovered from Drap employees

According to the audit paras available with Dawn, on Jan 1, 2012, the federal government through the Finance Division granted one basic pay of running salary as HPA to the “health personal” in the employment of the federal government. It was stated that the HPA was only admissible to the health personnel serving in the federal government hospitals and clinics.

“Moreover, the Finance Division (regulation wing) while approving the pay scales and allowances of Drap employees in 2015 stated that the ad hoc relief allowance granted from 2010 to 2014 shall not be allowed. House rent allowance, medical allowance and conveyance allowance may be kept frozen till the next revision of pay scales. However, the Drap management paid over Rs308 million as HPA to its employees during 2015-18,” said the auditors.

The audit also observed that HPA was paid to the employees of Drap although it was not a federal government hospital or clinic. Moreover, it was not approved by the Finance Division.

The auditor general recommended that not only the amount should be recovered from the employees but also further payments should be stopped.

An official in the Ministry of National Health Services, requesting anonymity, said as Drap earned a lot of money or generated funds on its own so its management decided to pay HPA to the employees.

“As per practice, the Federal Investigation Agency deals with cases up to Rs50 million and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) deals with cases involving over Rs50 million. So NAB should intervene and ensure recovery of the amount,” he said.

However, an official of Drap, requesting not to be quoted, said the health professional allowance was being paid to employees of a number of departments and divisions since 2012.

“The allowance is paid to employees of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, Nursing Council, Health Services Academy etc. Moreover, in 2017, the Supreme Court in gave a judgment due to which Special Education Department, National Council of Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons and Trust for the Disabled also started paying the health allowance,” he said.

Dr Rauf said the Policy Board of Drap had approved the HPA due to which it was paid to the employees.

“As per my information, a similar objection was raised in the past and the PAC was briefed about it. Once again PAC would be informed about it and I am hopeful that the objection would be settled.”

He said he was showing zero tolerance against corruption and even employees were making efforts to improve the performance of the authority.

“I am hopeful that because of our efforts Pakistan would soon be allowed to export medicine to a number of countries of Europe and America. As a result, we would be able to earn a huge amount of foreign exchange. The performance of the employees will prove that they deserve to get some additional amount in the shape of HPA,” Dr Rauf said.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2019