Punjab hospitals purchased ‘illegal’ stents in bulk

ISLAMABAD: The Punjab government cardiac hospitals purchased unregistered stents in bulk, with the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC) in the lead closely followed by the Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, said an inquiry report.

The RIC alone procured 4,265 stents (both registered and unregistered) during 2014 and 2017 and could use only 37 per cent (1,572) of them.

“Due to poor procurement forecasting, stents were procured over and above the actual requirement of the hospital and a largenumberofstentsremainedunutilised in the stock resulting in blockage of public funds as well as decreasing the available shelf life of stents during all the three years under scrutiny,” the report reads.

Thepunjabhealthdepartmentordered an inquiry in 2017 to determine the use of unregisteredstentsatthecardiacinstitutes after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) unearthed their rampant supply at the Mayo Hospital, Lahore.

The record of Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology (RIC), Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology (FIC) and Multan Institute of Cardiology (MIC) as well as cardiac department of Mayo Hospital was examined and all of them were found using unregistered stents but their purchase in bulk was done by the RIC and PIC only.

Majority of stents (registered and unregistered both) purchased by the cardiac facilities carried the price tag of more than Rs1 lakh for each article up to Rs3,15,000 which was drastically cut after the Supreme Court’s intervention.

Now, the maximum price of a stent is Rs100,000. Incidentally, the committee of cardiologists who ixed the price [on the court orders] are the ones heading the institutions. The stents were purchased in bulk at exorbitant rates. The inquiry committee pointed out laws in the procurement process and discussed the explanations offered in defense of purchasing unregistered stents.

Majority of them said it was done on the basis of “technical assessment” of consultants.however,thecommitteefound out procurement in bulk by RIC and PIC highly questionable and recommended a special audit of both the institutes.

Oficials privy to the exercise are tightlipped about the indings of audit. As for the RIC procurement, the committee noted that during the iscal year 2014-15, the hospital “procured 11 brands of stents which were not registered at the time of procurement.”