PESHAWAR: Auditors have discovered a long delay in the reform of district headquarters hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa despite paying Rs 1.08 billion to the Punjab Infrastructure Development Authority (IDAP) for three and a half years ago.
He recommended an investigation to determine the responsibility and keep the officials accountable.
In a report, Auditor General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that an agreement was signed between the KP Health Department and the IDAP on June 30, 2021, which later needed to implement “infrastructure improvement” in 13 DHQ hospitals in the province.
The IDAP agreement was obliged to start work on the reprimanding program after paying the 25 PC “Mobilization Advance” as per the requirement of the contract.
The annual audit of the Directorate General Health Services Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s record for the financial year 2023-24 revealed that IDAP was paid Rs 1.08 billion due to dynamic advance to improve infrastructure in 13 hospitals.
Auditor Investigations, recommend the accountability of the culprits
Under the agreement, the Department of Health needed Rs 25.8 billion for Phase I and Rs 6.272 billion for Phase II and Rs 6.272 billion for Phase II and Rs 25 PC for Rs 6.272 billion.
However, the project management paid only Rs 1.08 billion and the IDAP refused to start improving infrastructure in the designated hospitals despite a three -and -a -half -year hiatus. According to the report, the project’s steering committee requested the termination of the contract with the IDAP on May 2, 2024 and recover the money paid with interest.
He added that as a result of the lack of government interest with financial barriers and non -planning, the contractor did not start work on the improvement of infrastructure, in which cash worth Rs 1.08 billion was “useless”.
Auditors said the error was due to poor planning and lack of government interest, which blocked the funds in light of the non -meeting of infrastructure improvements.
According to General Financial Rule 12, a controlling officer should not only see that the total cost is kept within the limits of the authorized specialization, but also that the funds given to the spending units are spent in the public interest and for which the money was provided.
To maintain proper control, the officer should be arranged to inform, not only what is in fact spent from a specialty, but also what promises and obligations have been made against him and what will happen. The officer must be in a position to assume before the government and the Public Accounts Committee, if necessary, fulfill the full responsibility of departmental expenses and explain or justify any example of any other way or any other way or any other or any financial irregularities.
The report states that the auditors identified the matter in November 2024 but did not respond from the relevant constituencies, so they recommended proper investigation to “lack illegal planning and financial monitoring” so that the officials involved could be held accountable.
Dawn, appeared on March 12, 2025
