Bheri zonal hospital chief among officials accused of corruption

Bheri zonal hospital chief among officials accused of corruption

  Chief of the Bheri Zonal Hospital (BZH) including few other officials have been accused of embezzling the government budget allocated for the hospital for different purposes and categories.   

  Hospital accountant Padam Bahadur GC accused BZH chief Dr Pitambar Subedi and fellow accountants Maniram Barma and Dev Prasad Upadhyay of taking softener amounting to at least Rs 2.5 million while purchasing medicines, hospital equipments and stationery materials. GC said that the BZH still owes Rs 12.1 million to Kamala health check and Western regional distributors including Sajha Medicines as it has not cleared the unpaid dues while purchasing medicines and laboratory materials. This even as the BZH has already released money to clear these unpaid dues. He further said that the hospital is yet to pay Rs 2.2 million it owes to suppliers of stationery materials and other necessary materials.

  It has also been learnt that out of the Rs 4 million allocated for the purchase of medicines provided to impoverished people for free, Rs 1.7 million has been spent for other purposes.  

  Dr Subedi, however, said that the money was spent under various headings of social security allowance.

  GC also accused Dr Subedi of taking hire of Rs 272,000 while purchasing medicines, stationery equipment and carrying out repair works in the hospital last year.

  The Nepali Congress lawmaker Maikulal Balmiki said that there was irregularities while giving permission to the Nepalgunj Technical College to conduct practical classes for its students without board’s approval for the same.

  Meanwhile, the Kohalpur branch of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had raided the hospital and seized necessary documents some four months ago following complaints of budget irregularity and misuse of hospital belongings.

  Dr Subedi has also been accused of taking furniture and other items purchased for the use of the hospital to his quarters.

  A CIAA source said that Dr Subedi and other some hospital employees have been found to have taken money by submitting receipts of forged airline tickets from Nepalgunj to Kathmandu and vice versa.