PM Orders Probe Into PIMS CT Angio Failure

ISLAMABAD: (Health Reporter) – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered an inquiry into the non-functional CT Coronary Angiography facility at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad, directing officials to determine why the service stopped operating.

The prime minister has tasked the committee with examining all aspects of the issue and identifying those responsible. He also instructed that the inquiry report be submitted at the earliest.

The committee will be headed by the Secretary Establishment Division. Its members include the Secretary National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Division, Brigadier Dr Jahanzeb Ali of AFIC, Dr Nusratullah Chaudhry, Professor Dr Nadeem Hayat Malik, Brigadier (retd) Dr Azmat Hayat and Umar Farooq, a CT Angio Technician at AFIC.

As part of its investigation, the committee will establish whether the CT Angiography facility had been available at PIMS since 2022. If so, it will examine whether the required technical equipment, software and trained staff were available to operate the facility.

The panel will also scrutinise official records to determine how many CT angiography procedures were performed at PIMS since 2022.

Another key area of the inquiry will be referrals of cardiac patients to private medical facilities for angiography. The committee will determine whether such referrals took place and, if so, whether any particular private facility was repeatedly preferred.

It will further calculate the financial loss allegedly suffered by PIMS as a result of sending patients to private centres for the procedure.

The committee has also been asked to assess the impact on patients caused by a reported lack of coordination between PIMS’s cardiology and radiology departments and identify officials responsible for any lapses.