PESHAWAR: Maintaining transparency in the purchase of MRI and CT-Scan machines costing Rs280 million for the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) has become a challenge for the government of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak as reports have surfaced that a senior leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has been forcing the hospital administration to buy the machines from a company known for producing low quality equipment.
Sources in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat and Health Department said that after a brainstorming session a committee of technical experts and senior doctors had shortlisted two of the three reputable companies for providing the machines to the hospital.
After all legal and technical procedures were fulfilled, it was decided that bidding for selection of one company offering the lowest rates would be opened on Saturday.According to sources, an influential figure at the Chief Minister’s Complaint Cell was favouring one of the companies and used all tactics to enable it get the contract worth Rs280 million for supplying the machines.
When members of the committee reached the HMC for opening the bids, Chief Executive Mumtaz Ali Marwat had already received a letter from the Health Department that an official of the CM Complaint Cell had sent to secretary health for suspension of the bidding.
“After realising that he would not be able to influence the committee members to favour the company he had chosen, he sent a letter to the secretary health arguing that the process was not transparent and should be stopped,” a senior government official pleading anonymity told The News.
The bids could not be opened even though some of the committee members got frustrated and advised the chief executive to continue the process. “We would not have objected had it happened during the ANP-PPP government. But it happened in the PTI government that had raised the slogan of eliminating corruption,” he complained.
A Health Department official said the MRI machine in HMC had been out of order since May 2012 and the patients were being referred to the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) or private hospitals and laboratories, where they had to pay more compared to the public sector hospitals.
The machine was 20 years old and the hospital administration used to spend Rs8 million on its maintenance every year. The CT-Scan machine was installed in 1997. In modern machines, the CT-Scans are conducted in seconds while the machine at the HMC takes at least 15-20 minutes per patient.
During the caretaker government last year, the then secretary finance Sahibzada Mohammad Saeed took note of sufferings of the patients and allocated Rs280 millions for the purchase of new machines at the HMC. Rs180 million was earmarked for the purchase of MRI and Rs10 million for CT-Scan machine in the budget. He also gave Rs150 million for immediate purchase of necessary items for the Radiology Department of the hospital.
The HMC administration in July 2013 advertised the purchase of two machines and repeated it three times as only one company gave entered its bid. The matter was referred to the hospital’s management council, which recommended that it should be re-advertised on the pattern of Punjab and Balochistan governments.
“After holding meetings with experts from Punjab and Balochistan, the HMC administration opted to purchase the machine of 32 channels with better specifications keeping in view the growing number of patients,” he recalled.
Two companies were shortlisted while the third one was knocked out due to its failure to produce standard machines. “It was a surprise to members of the purchase committee that one person in the CM Complaint Cell took keen interest in supporting the case of the company that had been knocked out from the competition. Also, he used to come and sit in all the meetings without having any legal justification to do so,” the official said.
A committee member said they tried to make him understand that they would be blamed for causing losses to the exchequer in case they bought the machine from the said company. “The committee had approved two companies 10 days ago. The company favoured by him produces machines that have limited lifetime due to the use of lithium and malfunction frequently.
The company bribes officials by offering low prices, but later the government spends millions of rupees on maintenance. The machines manufactured by the two shortlisted companies are durable and up to the modern standards,” said the committee member wishing not to be named.
According to him, this company usually bought used machines in the United Arab Emirates and after repairs supplied those to the public sector hospitals in Pakistan. When contacted, provincial Health Secretary Ghulam Qadir Khan said he had forwarded the letter received from the CM Complaint Cell, but didn’t ask the HMC administration to cancel the purchase process. “I forwarded the said letter to the hospital administration, but asked it to go ahead with the purchase process.
The hospital had luckily the best IMC members and experts in the committee. I believe they would give their input in the process,” he said. He added that he also directed the hospital administration and purchase committee to fulfill all legal requirements for buying the best available machines.