RAWALPINDI, May 29: Irregularities have been noticed in the Islamic Development Bank-financed Rawalpindi Medical College Complex project, sources in the hospital said here on Wednesday.
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB), under two different loans, had provided $15 million for the uplift of the hospital. The assistance from the IDB had been acquired as soft loan on two per cent interest. The loan would be payable in 25 years.
Under the project, electro-medical equipment worth $10 million had to be procured, while the other $5 million was to be spent on installation of incinerator, diesel generators, lifts and latest communication systems.
The IDB’s vice-president reviewed the project alongwith senior officials of the Punjab health department on Wednesday.
The officials, while briefing the IDB delegates, did not point out the problems being confronted in the project, the sources said.
After the delegation left, they said, Punjab Health Minister Prof Mehmood Ahmad Chaudhry reprimanded the hospital’s officials for being unable to make the project functional.
They said the loan lapsed due to lack of interest of the officials related to the procurement of equipment worth millions of dollars. They said extension of the loan had to be sought from the IDB, which was granted recently.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a latest diagnostic facility, has gone out of order and the government has been asked to provide millions of rupees for its repairs, though not even a single test had been carried out on the machine. The machine, the sources said, was still in its warranty period.
They said: “The machine remained on for eight months incurring huge electricity bills, several radiologists went overseas for training and overstayed at the project’s expense, and not a single MRI was carried out on the pretext of non- availability of films, that were easily available in the market.
“However, last year’s floods provided them a chance of making a cover-up story, and funds were requested for the replacement of the circuits allegedly damaged by the flood water, though water was stopped from reaching the basement where the machine was installed.”
They said the expensive machine had become useless, and the poor people of Rawalpindi were deprived of this facility. These people had to pay heavily at privately-owned setups, the sources added.
They said central oxygen suction and compressed air units could not be made functional.
The central airconditioning and heating systems had yet to be installed.
They said chillers, the essential item for airconditioning, could not be procured due to lapse of funds, while some ducting had been done partially, and huge holes in the walls were visible.
The bronchoscopes have not been received though their payments were made alongwith the procurement order for endoscopes, it has been learnt.
The ECG machines that have so far been installed as part of the project are faulty and the doctors have requested the authorities to seek replacement of the whole lot of purchased ECG machines.
The echo-cardiography machine, worth millions, was transferred to Rawalpindi General Hospital against the terms of the loan agreement that barred shifting of any equipment from the project, the sources said. The installation of telephone exchange has also hit snags.
The sources said irrelevant equipment had been ordered, resulting in wastage of money.
“There is absolute lack of transparency in purchase deals, nobody knows who ordered what and for what purpose,” a senior official said.
“The expensive mortuary, the laundry, high-tech operation theatres and other state of art equipment is rusting, and the citizens are being deprived of this facility,” he added.
