Shehbaz Sharif Orders Probe Over Non-Functional Cardiac CT Scanner at PIMS

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered an immediate high-level inquiry into the management of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) after revealing that the hospital's CT Coronary Angiography facility remained completely non-functional. The executive intervention targets systemic administrative neglect, delays in vendor coordination, and procedural bottlenecks that deprived cardiac patients of non-invasive diagnostic care at Islamabad's primary public healthcare center.

The investigative committee, formed under direct executive instructions, must identify the officials responsible for failing to make the state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment operational. The inquiry mandate includes scrutinizing equipment procurement protocols, maintenance contracts, vendor service-level agreements, and the administrative chain of command within the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination.

Bureaucratic Neglect Leaves High-Tech Cardiac Equipment Dust-Covered

CT Coronary Angiography represents a critical, non-invasive diagnostic tool capable of mapping coronary artery blockages within seconds. Unlike traditional catheter-based angiography, which requires hospitalization, invasive arterial access, and prolonged recovery time, modern multi-slice CT scanning offers rapid risk assessment for sudden cardiac arrest. For thousands of low-and-middle-income patients traveling to Islamabad from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and northern Punjab, PIMS offers the only subsidized lifeline for advanced cardiovascular diagnostics.

However, despite the physical presence of advanced imaging machinery at the hospital, administrative delays, pending technical clearances, and operational indifference left the unit idle. Patient advocacy logs show that individuals presenting with severe chest pain were routinely turned away or redirected to private diagnostic centers in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. In the private sector, a single CT coronary angiography scan costs between PKR 35,000 and PKR 65,000—a prohibitive sum for families living on median daily wages.

related: public health infrastructure in Pakistan

The administrative failure at PIMS highlights a recurring structural flaw in Pakistan's public healthcare sector: multi-million-dollar hardware procurement frequently outpaces operational management planning. While capital budget allocations fund the purchase of top-tier medical equipment, federal hospitals repeatedly struggle with basic maintenance, software licensing renewals, specialized technician recruitment, and uninterrupted power supply modules.

The Inquiry Mandate: Fixing Accountability and Restoring Diagnostics

The prime minister's directive mandates that the newly constituted inquiry committee deliver a comprehensive finding detailing why the facility remained non-operational despite public demand. The probe aims to expose whether the delay resulted from deliberate administrative inertia, financial misallocation, or bureaucratic friction between the hospital management and the federal health ministry.

Key points under investigation include:

• The timeline from machine delivery and installation to its actual operational deployment.
• The status of annual maintenance contracts (AMCs) and technical support commitments from the equipment vendor.
• The availability and deployment of trained biomedical engineers, radiologists, and specialized technicians required to operate high-slice CT scanners.
• The internal reporting mechanisms that failed to alert senior ministry authorities to the persistent non-availability of life-saving services.

Beyond assigning blame, the executive order explicitly requires the immediate operationalization of the unit. Technical teams and biomedical engineers have been instructed to clear technical backlogs, finalize diagnostic calibration, and integrate the scanner into the daily emergency and outpatient workflow of the PIMS Cardiology Department without further delay.

Systemic Healthcare Governance Under the Scanner

This episode reflects broader operational vulnerabilities across federal medical institutions. Public sector tertiary hospitals in Pakistan often operate under severe budgetary constraints, yet the failure to maintain existing, fully funded equipment represents a governance deficit rather than a simple lack of capital resources. When expensive diagnostic suites remain dark, public trust in state-run medical facilities erodes, forcing vulnerable populations into predatory private healthcare debt.

related: federal hospital governance reforms

Medical directors across major public facilities point out that bureaucratic procurement rules under the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) frequently delay minor repairs or spare part imports by several months. However, executive oversight like this inquiry signals a shift toward holding administrative heads directly accountable for equipment downtime. For cardiac patients waiting in queues across the capital, swift execution of the probe and immediate restoration of the CT angiography scanner remain the ultimate test of state efficiency.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif order an inquiry into PIMS Islamabad?

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered the inquiry because the advanced CT Coronary Angiography machine at PIMS was lying non-functional, preventing cardiac patients from receiving essential diagnostic procedures at the public hospital.

What is CT Coronary Angiography and why is it vital for PIMS patients?

CT Coronary Angiography is a fast, non-invasive imaging test used to detect blockages in coronary arteries without surgical catheter insertion. It provides quick risk assessment for cardiac patients who would otherwise have to pay tens of thousands of rupees at private clinics.

What specific actions is the PIMS inquiry committee tasked to take?

The committee must investigate administrative delays and technical bottlenecks, identify officers responsible for the operational failures, review maintenance contracts with equipment vendors, and ensure the scanner is immediately operationalized for patients.