State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) Report 2017 — Part Three

·       Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Commission

-       The clear weakness in oversight, audit and follow-up of prisoners and ex-prisoners files and disbursement operations from the allocations at the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Commission, which led to many errors and violations in disbursement operations.

·       Ministry of Health

-       There are 15 private hospitals operating without renewal of their licenses, representing 54% of the number of private hospitals, which total 28 hospitals.

-       It was also shown that unlicensed medical centers operating in the field of skin care are very high, reaching 98%, and the percentage of unlicensed general medical clinics reached 65% of the clinics registered with the Ministry.

-       The directorates of health do not follow up on the hospitals and medical centers that are granted licenses to assess their compliance with licensing conditions and to verify the availability of the medical equipment necessary for their operation and its fitness for use, and to verify the availability and qualification of the medical staff necessary for their operation.

-       The Palestinian Medical Council did not perform some of the duties and tasks specified in the law that would raise the level of the medical profession among physicians who join the residency program, in addition to the Council’s weak follow-up of the training centers located in hospitals, which affects the credibility of their evaluations in a correct manner.

-       The Palestinian Medical Council granted a number of physicians the Palestinian board certificate based on training results without their taking the examinations required to obtain the specialty certificate.
- Report on the licensing of private hospitals, medical centers and private clinics at the Ministry of Health 2015. The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) conducted an examination of the procedures for granting and following up on licenses for medical centers and private hospitals for the year 2015, where the number of health centers, private hospitals, medical institutions and pharmacies registered with the Ministry of Health reached 4,530 institutions, of which 1,628 institutions were unlicensed, and based on the data, documents and records available to us and through the selected sample, and as a result of the inspection and audit work, the Bureau reached the following results:

-       Unlicensed institutions and medical centers: 36% of health centers, private hospitals, medical institutions and pharmacies registered with the Ministry of Health are unlicensed, and if pharmacies are excluded the percentage rises to 49%.

·       Observations in the Local Governance Sector

-       The number of reports issued during 2017 reached 70 audit reports and 97 complaints were followed up in 68 local councils. There are many violations and transgressions in some local councils.. not possible to list them here.. due to their large number..

·       Miscellaneous observations

-       The Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation evaluated the assets and properties of the Holding Company for Production and Media at a value of $3,000,000 on 18-3-2013 without sufficient supporting evidence to prove the validity of the valuation according to proper procedures, whereas the fixed assets of the holding company were valued by Tlal Al-Abu Ghazaleh Company on 30-11-2011 at $1,772,210.

-       The Refugee Affairs Department did not take the necessary measures to oblige the popular committees in the camps to submit financial and administrative reports on the results of their work, in addition to the Department’s failure to transfer monthly allocations in full to some committees or part of them while full allocations are transferred to others.

-       Since the beginning of 2017, the Land and Water Settlement Commission settled an area of 56,734 dunams, equivalent to 1.5% of the total unregistered land area in the West Bank of 3,748,046 dunams; planning was not based on time periods.

-       The General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions did not commit to employing the Histadrut revenues in a manner that directly benefits the eligible workers, as it was shown that the value of disbursements from these revenues during the years 2013-2015 amounted to 17,783,945 shekels and that 60.5% of the disbursements were spent on the federation’s operating expenses.

-       A number of land plots totalling 105 dunams remain registered in the name of the former head of the Engineers Syndicate of Ramallah and their ownership has not been transferred to the syndicate as of the audit date.

-       The Palestinian Red Crescent Society did not commit to withholding the income tax due on amounts paid to specialist physicians for their work in the Society.

-       Date: 14-1-2019