HYDERABAD: Chief Minister’s Inspection Enquiries and Implementation Team has initiated an inquiry into alleged illegal promotions and appointments, as well as corruption in the procurement, in the Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) of Hyderabad which is the second largest tertiary hospital of the province.

A letter signed by Aijaz Ali Pathan, Member-IV, was received by the LUH medical superintendent, who confirmed that the record sought by the team was being collected and would be submitted to them.

“The record pertains to 2017, therefore it is being collected in hospital,” MS told Dawn.

The team has asked the LUH MS to submit details of appointments, promotions and upgradation of staff from 2017 to 2023, details of development schemes for 2020 to 2023 and expenditures on procurement in fiscal years 2021-22 and 2022-23.

The MS further said that most of the record pertained to the period when he did not have the drawing and disbursing officer (DDO) powers, and therefore this record would be submitted properly to CM’s team.

It’s the first formal inquiry initiated by the CM’s team into the LUH affairs that had allegedly been plagued by malpractices and corruption by senior level health officers, including successive MSs and administration officials.

MS confirms receipt of letter seeking records of last several years

The LUH had seen corruption in the tendering process in 2021-22 procurements in which the LUH administration officials had purportedly allowed those companies that didn’t meet the criteria of participation in tenders as required under the Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (SPPRA).

The hospital MS had to cancel those tenders worth Rs912.35m after reports of serious financial irregularities came to the fore including purchase of flour for Rs179.89 per kilo when flour was being procured in government hospitals at Rs78.9 per kg. The tenders were floated again by the hospital management. Companies owned by blood relatives of LUH’s senior officers were awarded lucrative contracts last year without any merit.

Lower scale appointments from BS-1 to BS-4 were made in LUH in 2017-2018 period. LUH officials claimed that 157 posts were advertised, but 182 appointments were made through walk-in interviews. Appointments were also made in BS-5 although government advertised posts of BS-1 to BS-4.

In another identical serious financial discipline matter relating to release of Rs350m funds from district treasury, a senior health officer was issued charge-sheet in Sept 2022. Release of Rs350m was being sought through a fake letter which was intercepted by treasury/Sindh health department.

Surprising delay

While financial issues kept haunting LUH, government has not yet filled two important positions of director finance and director administration/procurement in line with Act 2020. In view of financial misappropriation, the process of appointment of director finance was initiated by the LUH Hyderabad administration last year in October. Names of three candidates have been shortlisted and sent to the Sindh government for appointment in line with the Sindh Teaching Hospital (Establishment of Management Board) Act 2020.

A ‘senior cadre officer’ not below the rank of BS-19 was to be appointed by Sindh CM as director administration/procurement in LUH as well under Clause 9(1) of Act 2020, but it was being delayed for inexplicable reasons by him.

A division bench of Sindh High Court Sukkur had removed LUH’s director administration, development and accounts in March this year for holding the post in violation of Supreme Court’s order, and authorised vice chancellor Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) Prof Dr Ikram Din Ujjan to act as ‘director finance’ till the appointment of a full-fledged director finance of LUH.

Surprisingly, LUH sources argued, the Sindh government was delaying appointment of full-fledged director finance and director administration/procurement despite massive financial issues in the hospital. Even Hyderabad’s incumbent deputy commissioner Fuad Ghaffar Soomro had proposed forensic audit of LUH’s financial affairs of past five years of hospital.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2023