Karachi: Caretaker Health Minister Sindh Dr. Saad Niaz has canceled the contract of 7 robotic surgery machines ordered at a high cost for various government hospitals. The former provincial government had awarded the contract for 8 robotic machines during its tenure, one of which was installed in Jinnah Hospital.
According to the details, the provincial health department ordered a robotic machine worth Rs 28 crore in 2011 in the name of treating patients in Sindh Government Qatar Hospital Orangi Town.
At that time, a ceremony was held for the unveiling of the machine, in which it was given the impression that successful surgeries could be done with the help of the most modern machine, but unfortunately, no surgery could be done on this machine and thus the machine costing 28 million rupees for 13 years remained in Qatar Hospital. It is disabled.
A robotic machine of the same value was ordered in Civil Hospital which was handed over to SIUT, but after many years this robotic machine was given back to Civil Hospital which has been broken for the past several months.
A former MS of Sindh Government Qatar Hospital said that there was no need for such expensive machines, waste of public tax money and such unnecessary machines are procured in exchange of reward and commission to certain supply firms.
He said on the condition of anonymity that the maintenance of the robotic machine costs Rs 2 crore annually, so the machine of the Qatar Hospital has been broken for many years, similarly the robotic machine of the Civil Hospital has also been inactive for many years. No surgery could be performed on this machine.
The public has spent more than 50 crore rupees on these two robotic machines that were damaged in this way, which did not benefit the patients. In this way, this valuable money and valuable foreign exchange of the country was lost.
Caretaker Health Minister Dr. Saad Niaz’s position:
Caretaker Provincial Health Minister Dr. Saad Niaz, taking notice of 2 robotic machines worth 8 billion rupees in the name of treatment of poor patients in government hospitals during the previous Sindh government’s tenure, ordered the purchase of 7 more robotic machines. The tender has been canceled, due to which the department’s mafia has become agitated.
On October 4, the head of Jinnah Hospital suddenly performed a surgery on a patient with a robotic machine in the hospital and gave the impression to the media that the robotic machine for surgery was successful.
On this statement, the Caretaker Health Minister Dr. Saad, while expressing his reaction, expressed his strong reservations and indignation on the robotic machine and canceled the tender of these machines which were ordered by the former Sindh government for various hospitals worth Rs 8 to 10 billion.
He said that this is an expensive treatment, so the condition of big and small hospitals can be improved with such serious money, so the health department has stopped the purchase of 7 more robotic machines.
He said that a surgery with a robotic machine costs 1500 to 2000 dollars, which is four to 5 lakh rupees in Pakistani currency.
Caretaker Health Minister told The Express Tribune that the treatment in Sindh has been made expensive in the name of innovation, people’s money has been wasted by buying expensive robotic machines in Sindh, so the purchase of 7 more machines has been stopped.
It should be noted that the previous Sindh government had issued orders to a specific supply firm to purchase 8 robotic machines, out of which one robotic machine has been installed in Jinnah Hospital at a cost of Rs 80 crore. The previous government had issued tenders worth 8 billion rupees for 8 robotic machines.
Dr. Saadniaz said that there is no point in ordering expensive machines. Priority is given to the provision of primary and secondary health facilities everywhere around the world, so the caretaker government stopped the purchase of more machines, which angered some.
It should be noted that when the approved contract of any supplier firm is cancelled, that company can approach the court but the government has the power under the supra laws to cancel the approved tender as well.
The deposit of the supplying company is deposited with the government called Pay Order, Supra rules hold a certain amount of security deposit which is returned to the company in case of cancellation of the tender.
If the rate is higher than the market rate, the government can cancel the tender because this money belongs to the public, after the tender is approved, the health department issues a work order to the said company.
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