….National Eye Centre discharged and acquitted
….National Ear Care centre to reconcile figures
….FMC Asaba, Lokoja re-appears
By Lubem Gena, Abuja
More health institutions have come under scrutiny in the resumed hearing of probe into the Covid-19 special intervention funds disbursed to them during the pandemic which got to a point in 2020 and 2021.
The health institutions that searchlight was beamed on them today by the Representative Bamidele Salam Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Representatives include Federal Medical Centre Lokoja, Kogi state; Federal Medical Centre, Asaba, Delta state; the National Ear Care Centre, Kaduna and National Eye Centre also based in Kaduna.
While the National Eye Centre, Kaduna was cleared of all allegations having proved that it judiciously used the money allocated to it as Covid-19 intervention, the FMC Lokoja and Asaba were not lucky as presentation of conflicting figures and inability to explain certain violations of extant laws saw them rolled over to Thursday, 30th November, 2023.
The Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, Dr. Olatunde Oladeji Alabi came under heat when the committee noted that there are a lot of gaps in his presentations that needs to be attended to expeditiously.
“Apparently, the Medical Director, there are a lot of gaps in your presentation, some of which you agreed. And they are very fundamental because some of the things we want to achieve with this investigation is to ensure that we have value for money.
“If you look at it, the medical centres have the same practice they are executing and it is the same standard cost. It is a standard practice in the medical practice that allows this. But the medical centres are not of the same size and capacity.
“So, we need to be sure that these items are procured using the best standard of pricing. And the contracts are executed to specification. So, I will be setting up a sub-committee of this committee to pay a visit to your institution”, Rep. Salam emphasized.
Meanwhile, Dr. Mustapha Abubakar, the Medical Director of National Ear Care Centre, Kaduna and that of FMC Asaba, Dr. Victor Azubuike, were referred to a sub-committee of the committee to reconcile their figures as well as harmonize their presentations having noticed that their oral presentations differed significantly from the documents and submissions they earlier made to the committee.
