PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department has constituted regional surveillance committees to ensure fair and transparent utilisation of medicine funding, following the detection of Rs1.3 billion financial irregularities in 24 government hospitals of the province last month.
Officials told Dawn that the committees, to be headed the additional director-general (health services) and comprising the district monitoring officer at the independent monitoring unit, drug inspectors and respective regional directors as its members and the deputy director at the directorate-general drug control and pharmacy services as its secretary, had been entrusted to conduct periodic inspections of health facilities regarding availability and utilisation of medicines.
They said the committees would also ensure that drugs are purchased by the hospitals in line with the approved Medicine Coordination Cell (MCC) list.
The officials said the move aimed to ensure transparency after a recent warning of disciplinary action to medical superintendents of 13 secondary care and 11 primary care hospitals for violation of rules during the purchase of medicines for the current year.
Panels will also check availability of drugs
They said as the MSs had yet to respond to the warning issued by director-general (health services) Dr Shaheen Afridi, the health department had notified the committees with the task of verifying the quality, storage conditions, and stock management of medicines and medical devices.
The officials said the committees had been told to ensure that the hospitals comply with the approved Standard Medicines List (SML) in medicine procurement and utilisation.
They will also review procurement against available budgetary allocations and ensure financial discipline and compliance in addition to carrying out assessment and rationalisation of quantities of medicines and medical devices being procured and utilised, based on actual consumption patterns, demand of the concerned units and needs, according to them.
In the notification, the DG instructed committees to investigate and report any complaints related to MMC procurements.
Officials said previously, there’s no check on hospitals regarding the purchase of medicines and their utilisation as well as the quality of medical supplies.
They, however, said in future,a complete surveillance would be in place for the purpose, with the regional surveillance committees required to prevent any irregularities.
The notification said that the
committees would also be responsible to ensure that supplied items conform to approved specifications and regulatory standards of the MMC approved list and submit periodic reports to
the DG (health services) for further action.
It added that it would be the responsibility of the committees to check other matters related to the government’s MCC purchases in public health centres of the province.
Officials said that the recent Rs1.3 billion irregularity scandal had prompted the health department to spring into action for ensuring transparent and fair utilisation of funds in future.
They said the hospitals had purchased drugs from suppliers at the district level and most drugs hadn’t been tested at the Drug Testing Laboratory prior to placing orders and purchasing medicines.
Officials said some hospitals had exhausted their budgetary allocation within a few months and they had nothing left for the remaining months of the current fiscal.
They said the surveillance committees would ensure that the budget was utilised in compliance with prescribed financial protocols and discipline, the Chief Minister’s Medicine Operation Portal (CMMOP) framework, facility-wise Standard Medicines Lists (SML), and the approved MCC Policy, with immediate effect.
The officials said public hospitals were required to upload data about medicine procurement and utilisation of medicine budget but they had failed to do so and therefore, the department had given that task to the regional surveillance committees to ensure funds are used transparently and fairly.
Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2026