A committee of the Punjab Assembly has ordered a formal inquiry into a medicine supply contract worth Rs145 million, after an audit raised questions about how the deal was awarded and carried out. The Public Accounts Committee-I took up the matter during its proceedings and decided that the circumstances surrounding the contract needed a closer look, rather than being left to the explanations already offered by the Health Department.
According to the audit report examined by the committee, the contract for supplying medicines to a government hospital was given to a local pharmaceutical company during the previous government’s time in office. The auditors found that the award may not have followed the proper procurement rules, and that the company chosen for the work did not have the experience normally required for a contract of this kind. The report also noted a serious delay in delivery: although the medicines were supposed to reach the hospital within three months, the company took a full year to complete the supply.
When the matter came before the committee, officials from the Health Department argued that the delay had been caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The committee did not accept that explanation. Members pointed out that a pandemic-era disruption could not, on its own, account for the way the contract had been handled from the start, and they directed that the inquiry look into exactly how a firm said to lack the required experience managed to secure the work in the first place.
The inquiry officer has been asked to examine several questions in detail. These include whether the company met the eligibility conditions set out for the contract, what concessions, if any, were granted to it along the way, and why no action was taken when the delivery deadline passed without the medicines being supplied. The committee also wants officials to identify who was responsible if the procurement rules were indeed broken at any stage of the process.
The findings of this inquiry will matter well beyond a single hospital contract. If the audit’s concerns are confirmed, they will point to weaknesses in how public money is spent on essential medicines, where delays and questionable awards can directly affect patient care. If, on the other hand, the inquiry clears the process, it will settle a dispute that has lingered since the previous government’s tenure. Either way, the committee’s decision to press ahead, rather than accept the department’s explanation at face value, signals that scrutiny of health spending in Punjab is set to remain firmly in the spotlight.
