Audit dept seeks report on collection of Rs182m receipts in Ganga Ram Hospital

LAHORE : The Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department (SHC&MED) has directed Deputy Director Finance Sammual Amanat, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore, to report in Specialised Healthcare & Medical Education Department with immediate effect on administrative grounds, following “doubtful” collection of hospital receipt Rs182.04 million.

Amanat, a BS-18 officer, also had the additional charge of the office of Director finance.

The Department entrusted Muhammad Israr ul Haq, Senior Budget & Accounts Officer / Deputy Director Accounts / Deputy Director Finance (BS-18) on regular basis at The Children's Hospital / The Institute of Child Health, Lahore, with the additional charge of the post of Director Finance (BS-19) at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore City, Lahore with immediate effect, in addition to his own duties, for a period of three months or until the arrival of a regular incumbent, whichever is earlier.

The Director General Audit, Punjab during annual audit of Fatima Jinnah Medical University (FJMU) and allied institutions, Lahore up to FY 2022-23, requested FJMU Vice Chancellor to collect last three-year bank statements, receipt statements and receipt cash books for a period of 2018-19, 2019-20 & 2020-21 (Sir Ganga Ram Hospital) from auditee formation for audit purpose.

During audit of accounts of Fatima Jinnah Medical University & Allied Institutions, Lahore, for the financial year 2022-23, it was observed that an amount of Rs182.04 million was collected by the hospital management on account of admission fees, MRI., CT scans, X-Ray and ECG, etc. The audit held the collection of receipts doubtful on the following points: All hospital departments were collecting cash from patients and submitting the cash/receipts to the designated cashier for depositing into the hospital's receipt account. However, there was no record kept by the cashier regarding the amount collected/received from each department.

The cashier had prepared a cashbook solely for the audit purpose, derived from the bank statement which displayed no entries on the debit side and only showed transactions on the credit side.

There was a lack of oversight from the management regarding the collection and depositing of cash into Hospital Receipt Account leading to a lack of checks and balances.

The cashier failed to keep records of deposit slips used to deposit cash into the hospital receipt account.

There was no checks and balances on the departments, which were collecting hard cash as receipts. The chances of mishandling of cash at the departmental level could not be ignored.

The departments are required to deposit receipts with the cashier within three days. However, there is a suspicious practice of lump-sum deposits being made to the cashier after 15 to 30 days instead of adhering to this requirement.

The record of receipt books issued to various departments by the cashier was not maintained. So, chances of collection of cash against fake receipts could not be ignored. ‘No reconciliation of the cashbook and bank statement was being made,’ the audit noted.

The person, who collected cash at the counter, did not reconcile it with the department according to the number of free, discounted and full paid tests. He has just collected the receipts and deposited them into bank account.

The Audit remarked that matter needs to be justified for, as per rules, every government servant should realise fully and clearly that he will be held personally responsible for any loss sustained by the government through fraud or negligence on his part. It is the primary responsibility of the departmental authorities to see that all revenues, or other debts due to the government, which have to be brought to account, are correctly and promptly assessed, realised, and credited to the government account.