ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s The Indus Hospital (TIH) denied allegations on Saturday that evidence of large-scale fraud had been uncovered in its tuberculosis (TB) program by Switzerland-based ‘The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria,’ after news reports a day earlier said the Fund had cut its grant to the hospital following an investigation that uncovered $4.2 million in non-compliant expenses.
The Global Fund mobilizes and invests more than $4 billion a year to support programs run by local experts in more than 100 countries, including Pakistan, to fight tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria. It has disbursed over $697 million to Pakistan since 2003, and is the country’s biggest donor for HIV/AIDS and TB.
A report that is available with Arab News was published following an investigation by the Global Fund’s Office of the Inspector General into procurement fraud activities committed by The Indus Hospital TB Program in Pakistan between January 2016 and December 2018. The source of the investigation is a whistle-blower as per the report.
In an email exchange between Arab News and the Global Fund, the organization said the Indus Hospital TB program had been cut off as a recipient of their grant as of Dec. 31, 2020.
In response to these allegations, TIH said on Saturday the investigation’s report was still in draft form, and that the hospital would continue to be the principal recipient of The Global Fund’s grants in Pakistan.
“The report published in media is still in draft form and yet to reflect the feedback of various stakeholders including Government of Pakistan,” the statement from Indus Hospital’s CEO, Abdul Bari Khan, said.
“Media reports also mention that The Global Fund has discontinued all its grants to TIH. This information is also not true as TIG continues to be the principal recipient of The Global Fund grants in Pakistan with an increase of scope (from 18 to 36 districts) and budget,” the statement continued.
Arab News reported in August last year that The Global Fund had expressed dissatisfaction over the utilization of its grants in Pakistan and decided to invoke the Additional Safeguard Policy (ASP) to ensure “accountable use” of the funds.
Pakistani hospital denies Global Fund’s allegations of fraud in tuberculosis program
https://arab.news/pqk3s
Pakistani hospital denies Global Fund’s allegations of fraud in tuberculosis program
- Reports on Friday said the TB grant to hospital had been cut off following investigation that uncovered $4.2 million in fraud
- TIH says investigation report still in draft form and hospital remains principal recipient of The Global Fund’s grants
Pakistan moves to digitize payments for 10 million women under flagship poverty initiative
- BISP Official says accounts will be linked to phones to boost financial inclusion and curb payment deductions
- Over 1.9 million SIMs issued as the nationwide rollout continues across provinces ahead of the March deadline
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s flagship poverty alleviation initiative, the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), plans to equip 10 million women with digital bank accounts linked to their phone numbers within four months in one of the largest such exercises in the world, one of its top officials said on Wednesday.
Launched in 2008, the initiative is named after the late former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and has a budget of Rs716 billion ($2.5 billion) during the current fiscal year. Through its Benazir Kafaalat — or financial assistance — program, BISP provides quarterly stipends of Rs13,500 ($48) to around 10 million women.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News, BISP Secretary Amir Ali Ahmed said the opening of digital bank accounts for the beneficiaries was part of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s initiative related to a cashless economy and digital transformation of the country.
“I’m glad to share that 10 million bank accounts, wallet accounts were created,” he said. “This is a follow-up of the same exercise whereby now 10 million SIMs are being distributed.
“It is significant to share that the entire beneficiary network that we have is female-centric,” he continued. “So these are 10 million female accounts that have been created.”
Ahmed said the process of issuing mobile phone SIM cards to BISP beneficiaries had started on November 17 and would be completed by March next year.
“Let me share that this is one of the largest such exercises to be conducted in the world which is female-centric, linked with financial inclusion and financial empowerment.”
The BISP official added that out of the more than 10 million beneficiaries, only five to 10 percent had bank accounts, but nearly 90 to 95 percent were excluded from the system.
He said they were being linked to the banking system with cellphone SIMs that are being distributed with the help of the IT ministry, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, National Database and Registration Authority and telecom companies across the country.
“We feel that this initiative of the government of Pakistan will not only result in financial empowerment of our beneficiaries, it will also result in financial inclusion of a segment which was not part of the banking sector in Pakistan,” he said, adding that the move will also lead to transparency.
In the past, there have been complaints of women not getting their full payment from bank officials in the absence of their own accounts, but Ahmed said this was going to change.
“They will be free from any exploitation at the agent networks, the queues that one would witness, the complaints of corruption or deductions that would emerge,” he continued.
According to official data, more than 1.9 million SIMs have so far been issued for BISP beneficiaries across the country.
The province of Punjab leads the rollout with 810,597 SIMs, followed by Sindh with 523,629 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 371,427 SIMs.
In other regions, Azad Jammu and Kashmir has received 59,617, Balochistan 82,826, Gilgit-Baltistan 45,184, and Islamabad 4,508 SIMs.
