Gujar khan  -  The alleged stealth of an ECG unit from the emergency ward of Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) Hospital Gujar Khan 18 days ago, and after holding an internal probe and lodging an FIR against an unidentified thief, the discovery of the gadget lying in the backyard of the hospital has left questions on the administrative lapses on the part of the health authorities. These authorities had already been warned by the secretary and minister of primary and secondary health Punjab, who had separately visited THQ Gujar Khan last week. 

According to sources, Provincial Secretary for Primary and Secondary Health, Ms. Nadia Saqib, had paid a surprise visit to this hospital on December 13 and, while visiting the hospital, noted uncleanliness and mismanagement in the presence of media persons. However, on the same day, after the visit of the secretary, Ms. Saqib, the medical superintendent of the THQ Hospital, Dr. Sarmad Hussain, got an FIR lodged with police station Gujar Khan reporting about the lifting of the ECG unit from the emergency ward during night duty on Dec 7.

Provincial Minister for Health, Khawaja Imran Nazeer, also dashed in the hospital on Dec 16, and he not only expressed his concerns over the discovery of ‘undefaced’ government-funded medicines under the Sehat Sahulat Program (SSP) but also noted the ‘non-reporting on duty’ of a medical officer over the pointing of the locals. The minister also pointed out the mysterious lifting of the ECG during the working hours of emergency staffers. The CCTV footage was also available and provided to the police to ‘assist’ in recovery from the ‘suspected’ thief. The minister had issued strict instructions to the medical officer for setting things in order within 48 hours and reporting to him. The CEO of the District Health Authority (DHA) Rawalpindi, Dr. Asif Arbab Niazi, who was present during the visits of the minister and secretary, was also directed to set things in order. 

However, the issue of stealing the ECG machine remained a source of trolling on social media, and three officials of the hospital, including two medical officers and a charge nurse, were suspended under the PEEDA Act to initiate a formal inquiry against them. The sources in the hospital also revealed that some other items had already been lifted from the hospital and later on ‘honorably returned by mysterious thieves thriving in the hospital’. 

Local journalists have repeatedly been enquiring from the CEO of DHA and the medical superintendent about the ‘missing machine’ and the answer was always the same that within couple of coming days the machine would ‘return’. The guessing game on the implementation of ‘strict instructions’ of the minister and the secretary, was on, when on Tuesday, the much awaited ‘breaking news’ was leaked to the local circles that the machine was spotted in the narrow backyard where none of the 35 functional cameras was capturing the clever trick of placing it back. Muhammad Qadeer Qureshi, a representative of Public Aid Forum in Gujar Khan, who had pointed issues to the minister, while talking to The Nation has said that if the previous incidents of theft were not swept under the carpet, the theft of ECG would have been prevented. He further said that repeated incidents of stealing equipments from the hospital wards and rooms not only expose the government properties and medicine at risk but the properties and lives of the patients were also at risk unless concrete the practice of sweeping under the carpet is discouraged. 

The Public Aid Forum has said that the theft of ECG machine was kept secret till the visit of the secretary health and later on the machine was secretly placed at a secret point beyond the reach of any CCTV cameras. The Forum has urged upon the Chief Minister Punjab, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, and the Minister for Health to take notice of such incidents and also take measures for streamlining administrative discipline.