SAHIWAL: The Provincial Primary and Secondary Healthcare (P&SH) Department has suspended from job Dr Amanullah Khan, medical superintendent of the District Headquarters Hospital, for financial embezzlement, maladministration, irregularities and violations of rules and regulations in purchasing of medicine and awarding contracts.

The order was issued by Muddasir Waheed Malik, special secretary of the P&SH Department, on Friday.

The action was taken on a number of public complaints and after death of patient Khurram Faiz during a surgery at the surgical ward n July 3. The department conducted two probes into complaints.

The first inquiry was conducted by a five-member team of the Directorate of Monitoring and Evaluation, Health Services DG, and the second by the District Health Authority chief of Pakpattan.

The suspension order has 19 charges against the officer. Those included awarding a procurement contract during financial year 2018-19 without following legal procedure like issuance of AAT; violation of PPRA Rule No 9 by splitting invoices of Rs17.826 million into parts; paying Rs6.063 million salary to staff in cash instead of cross cheques in May 2018; buying medicines in the same year from M/S Pak Medical Hall amounting 13.921 million without following rules; allowing to withdraw consultants’ payments worth Rs50,6400 from the Health Sector Reform Allowance; buying medicines without LASA and FEFO rules; dysfunctional CT scan and Digital X-Ray machines; contradictions in manual and biometric attendance; overspending of LP medicine up to Rs5.26million, and non-submission of bills to the account office in 2017-18 and etc.

SEMINAR: Sacrificing an animal is a vital part of Eidul Azha but the preservation of animals’ hides is also necessary as it earns billions in exports. Locally, there is no system to preserve hides.

The best possible short-term preservation of hides can be done through salting them within the first four hours after slaughtering an animal.

This was said by speakers at a seminar for hide collectors by the local livestock department at Zila Council hall. Livestock officials said that in 2017-18, around 7.5 million hides were collected by different organizations, mostly religious, and individuals but of them, 2.2 million got wasted for their improper preservation by hide collectors.

“This caused Rs1.5 billion loss to national exchequers as such hides neither cann be exported and nor be used by local tannery industry,” Dr Ghulam Mustafa, livestock director, told audience.

He said two things needed to be followed by hide collectors. First, hides must be cured with salt within four hours of slaughtering and, the second was the proper slaughtering of mainlands by a trained butcher.

Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Zaman Watto said unskilled butchers make cuts in hides which destroyed its quality.

LAND: The local office of the Anti-Corruption Establishment recovered 222 state kanals from illegal land grabbers. A handout issued from the regional director of the Anti-Corruption Establishment office says the land was retrieved from Muhammad Iftikhar, of village 77/5-R. The land was leased to him for two decades ago but Iftikhar did not pay proper rent of lease agriculture land.

Shafqatullah Mushtaq, regional director, told Dawn the possession of the land was handed over to the local revenue officer and the tehsildar.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2019