Mayo Hospital was built to provide quality treatment for patients from across the province who come to Lahore in search of better health facilities. Unfortunately, the lack of adequate facilities at the hospital only adds to their miseries because it is already overburdened and cannot accommodate the large number of people seeking treatment.
The construction of a surgical tower at Mayo Hospital was started in 2006 and is yet to be completed. Originally, the project was supposed to be completed in three years. So far, the authorities have missed two deadlines. The project was started during the tenure of Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and this could be seen as the single most important reason for its incompletion under the present PML-N led provincial government.
The surgeries of several departments were meant to be performed in the new surgical tower but due to delays in the project’s completion, surgeries are being carried out in old and dilapidated buildings.
The surgical tower has been delayed despite the fact that all the requirements were met, and it was even given a go ahead from hospital authorities. The financial bid process regarding the project was not transparent and there was an embezzlement of many million rupees carried out by hospital authorities, including the superintendent and the clerk of the hospital.
The documents concerning the financial bids were opened in an office of a private company in Shadman which was contrary to the legality of the process.
The Punjab health department and the hospitals’ medical superintendent (MS) took notice of this based on reports but no further action was taken. It is still in the air that an inquiry is due.
The surgical Tower was supposed to be completed in March 2017 and billions of rupees were granted for its timely completion. Various multinational companies submitted their bids for the process but they were bypassed on the wishes of former MS Amjad Shehzad.
Sources said that Amjad Shehzad, 3 days prior to his retirement, had approved a Rs 120million ventilator project in which various multinational companies were competitors. Hospital authorities asked their clerk Iqbal, purchase officer and superintendent Amin, to give the project to their favoured company.
The bidding process, a sham, was forged in Shadman under the supervision of Mayo Hospital authorities, and the particular company was asked to submit a slightly lower amount than the company which had called for the lowest bid. In the process, the former MS of the hospital had an appropriate share in the commission money for granting the bid.
On the occasion, Amjad Shehzad denied these allegations and hung up on this correspondent.
When contacted, Mayo Hospital MS Tahir Khalil said that the ventilator project is under the supervision of a senior professor who will probe these allegations and take strict action against anyone found guilty.