The financial procedure of Sedi University of Medical Sciences leads to basic budgeting
According to the economic correspondent of Fars news agency, the budget deficit, or in other words, the discrepancy between government revenues and expenditures, is one of the biggest economic problems in Iran, and until now, even the means of estimating the real needs of each government body for financial resources are not available, and the governments are not aware of the actual amount of expenditures. They were not informed.
From this point of view, the waste and diversion of resources is one of the constant problems in government institutions, which was answered in recent decades by creating money and as a result, inflation. Of course, the implementation of the single treasury account law and the creation of a payment mechanism to the final beneficiary will allow governments to have full control over their expenses and incomes; A law that has been implemented by more than 90% of government agencies, and even after the passage of several deadlines, universities of medical sciences and hospitals under the Ministry of Health refuse to implement this law, and their sub-accounts are still active in the banking network.
According to officials, these universities still have more than 2,000 active bank accounts that are not yet connected to the central bank treasury.
According to the budget laws of 1399 to 1401, all government agencies and organizations that use the public budget must close their main and subsidiary accounts in all banks and place them all in the central bank. Among these institutions, which evade the implementation of this law despite the end of all the given deadlines, are universities of medical sciences.
* One-sixth of the government’s budget is in the hands of universities of medical sciences
Based on the budget law of 1401, universities of medical sciences received more than 120 thousand billion tomans from the public budget and are among the largest collections and the most consuming sectors of the country, so that about one-sixth of the government budget is allocated to the Ministry of Health and Treatment, and a major part of This budget is also related to universities of medical sciences, but universities of medical sciences, unlike all government institutions, not only do not have transparency in the matter of clarifying their expenses, but also avoid it, and with the non-implementation of the single treasury account law in recent years, they are associated with the fact that even They do not intend to connect to the treasury account.
Of course, the excuse of these universities for the lack of centralization of accounts and non-implementation of the single treasury account law is to refer to Article 1 of the Law on Permanent Development Decrees, which can be mentioned as one of the most important mistakes of these universities. In this article, it is stated that these universities can act without complying with the general laws and regulations governing government institutions, especially the country’s public accounting law, only within the framework of financial, transactional and administrative approvals and regulations approved by their own board of trustees.
* Member of the Parliament’s Health Commission: The reference of medical sciences universities to Article 1 of the Law on Permanent Decrees of Development is wrong
In this regard, Gholamhossein Rizvani, a member of the Health, Treatment and Medical Education Commission of the Parliament, believes that the reference of medical sciences universities to Article 1 of the Permanent Development Law is wrong.
He rejects the arguments of the universities and says: the meaning and concept of the board of trustees supervising the expenditure of the universities is limited only in the framework of that part of the educational, research and research work of the universities, and this issue has nothing to do with the therapeutic measures of the universities. In addition, it should be emphasized that in universities of medical sciences, a major part of the income is not related to their educational field and the majority of it is related to the field of treatment.
This member of parliament continued: In other words, the legislators’ intention of handing over the monitoring of university spending to the board of trustees of each university is only aimed at their educational, research and research department, which of course is not a significant amount of their budget. But an important part of the budget of these universities is spent on medical matters, that is, it is directly related to the health and treatment of the people, and the deviation in it will bring huge losses to the country. For this reason, this part of the budget should be under the supervision of an institution outside the universities that is not in a position of conflict of interest in the matter of monitoring its activity; Therefore, it is clear that the decision-making authority, the setting and supervision of the performance of the universities cannot be entrusted to an institution within the universities.
*Member of Parliament: Financial indisciplines are evident in universities of medical sciences
Also, Mojtaba Rezakhah, a member of the Program, Budget and Calculations Commission in the parliament, also asked whether it is reasonable to entrust the supervision of the budget to the board of trustees of each university. He explained: The issue of universities becoming trustees goes back to the 60s and the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution. At that time, due to the special conditions in the field of higher education and research, it was decided to administer universities as trustees with special powers. In the 1970s, the government healthcare sector was integrated into universities of medical sciences. (After the issue of university trustees). Iran is the first and only country in the world that has integrated its government healthcare system into the medical education system, this is the acknowledgment of the health officials themselves.
Rezakhah stated: At the end of the sixth parliament, when the fourth development plan was approved, the powers of the university trustees were expanded so that they were exempted from complying with all the general laws governing government institutions, including the accountability of the Ministry of Economy, and the basis of their actions was only their own approvals. An incident that caused the Board of Trustees to become both an executive, an observer, and a rule-maker.
This member of the 11th parliament said: “This has certainly caused many corruptions and we witnessed financial indiscipline in medical universities, which has been emphasized in the reports of the supervisory institutions to the parliament.” This ruling was repeated in Article 20 of the 5th Development Plan and finally in 1395, it became permanent in Article 1 of the Permanent Development Plan. But what was not noticed at that time was that the University of Medical Sciences is not only educational and research in nature, but more than 85% of the budget and services of Medical Sciences Universities belong to healthcare affairs, not educational and research.
* Absence of performance monitoring and increase in astronomical salaries in universities of medical sciences
The existence of deviation in deposits and the uncertainty of the amount of income of universities of medical sciences can be seen from the astronomical salaries that are always discovered from these departments.
The following image is related to one of these astronomical rights that has recently been published in the virtual space.
* Member of the Economic Commission of the Majlis: 80 to 90 percent of government agencies have joined the treasury unit account law
Nevertheless, some officials of the Ministry of Health still talk about the good performance and financial discipline in universities, Behrouz Rahimi, Deputy Director of Development and Resource Management of the Ministry of Health, in the second festival of financial discipline and resistance economy hosted by Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Shed, stating that the Ministry of Health is very orderly and rules-compliant and “people” are monitoring the performance of the Ministry of Health, he added: “One of the most mature management methods is being implemented in the Ministry of Health and Medical Sciences Universities, and its growth and maturity is due to operational transparency.” is that it has
According to Rahimi, universities have many accounts in the banking network because of hospitals and healthcare networks, all of which are supposed to be transferred to the treasury.
These universities talk about financial discipline while they are among the 10 percent of offenders in the implementation of the treasury unit account; Mehdi Taghiani, a member of the Economic Commission of the Majlis, said regarding the implementation of the Treasury Single Account Law: So far, about 80 to 90 percent of government agencies have joined the Treasury Single Account Law, and some organizations such as universities of medical sciences, which are about 10 to 15 percent of the total subjects of this They are legal, they have not yet been added to the treasury account.
* Universities in the backyard of the board of trustees/ universities of medical sciences have 2000 active sub-accounts in banks
In this regard, Mohammad Ali Mohseni Bandapi, a member of the Islamic Council, said about the number of bank accounts of universities of medical sciences: currently, the board of trustees of universities have become a machine for signing and approving expenses that are not in line with the development of universities. These universities now have more than two thousand active sub-accounts in banks, and they have not yet fully joined the single account of the Treasury, which shows the weakness of the supervision of the Parliament and the government.
Regarding the refusal of the universities of medical sciences to join the treasury account, he said: currently, the board of trustees of the universities have become a machine for signing and approving expenses that are not in line with the development of the universities. These universities now have more than two thousand active sub-accounts in banks, and they have not yet fully joined the treasury account, which shows the weakness of parliament and government supervision.
* What is the importance of implementing treasury unit account?
Treasury unit account is one of the prerequisites for transparency and international standards of public administration. According to the definition of the International Monetary Fund, the treasury unit account is an integrated structure of the government’s bank accounts that enables the optimal use of the government’s cash resources. By establishing a centralized treasury account and connecting all devices and institutions to it, the government will carry out all its receipts and payments and will be able to calculate and monitor financial performance in real time.
Seyyed Ahmadreza Dastghib, the head of the Court of Accounts, In the consultation meeting with the presidents of the country’s top universities, he considers paying attention to the elements of financial statements, eliminating intermediary accounts and establishing a centralized treasury account to be a suitable solution for creating financial discipline and says: a single treasury account is the only gateway to better financial management. Accordingly, the necessary mechanisms for this issue should be considered.
JBar Kokhaki Nejad, Member of the Program, Budget and Calculations Commission of the Parliament Regarding the importance of implementing this law, he said: If the government does not supervise financial affairs, financial chaos will arise in the government system. According to the law, the General Treasury, as the representative of the Islamic Republic, must supervise all revenues and expenses, but unfortunately, some institutions have not implemented this law.
* The Court of Accounts and the Inspection Organization are obliged to deal with the offenders from the accounts of the treasury unit
According to Note 7 of the Budget Law 1401, keeping any account by the institutions in a bank other than the Central Bank is illegal seizure of government funds and property. For this reason, these two supervisory bodies in the parliament and the government as public prosecutors should take action against the violations of the institutions in joining the account of the treasury unit and blocking the accounts in other banks.
Shahriar Heydari, member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Parliament, while referring to the criminality of not joining the account of the treasury unit in the laws, he says about this: the follow-up of this issue should be done by the Court of Accounts and the inspection organization; Some offenders, such as universities of medical sciences, which are governed by a board of trustees, have a series of powers that abuse these powers; Because of this, they are trying to delay the implementation of the law either by delaying it or by justifying it
This member of the 11th Parliament continued: The Court of Accounts, as the supervisory body of the Parliament, should enter into this issue; Negotiations have been conducted with the Court of Accounts and attempts have been made to implement these measures, because the regulatory bodies should definitely take a serious look at this issue. Of course, we have also written to the inspection organization to follow up on this matter.
* Initial treasury unit account on basic budgeting
If the regulatory bodies are indifferent to the violations of government agencies, the way to reform budgeting and as a result the government budget deficit, which has become a chronic phenomenon in the country, will remain closed. The single account of the treasury brings the transparency of the incomes and payments of the government agencies, and the regulatory bodies must deal with the violators of its implementation in order to implement it as quickly as possible.
Mojtaba Rezakhah, a member of the Islamic CouncilHe said about the benefits of implementing the single treasury account for the country: The main problem of the people today is the livelihood and economic problem. Chronic and high inflation and waste of public resources are among the causes of this problem. One of the main roots in the formation of these problems is the government’s budget deficit. Governments have resources that are sometimes not transparent and get distorted. On the other hand, their expenses have also been growing uncontrollably, so we witnessed the aggravation of the budget deficit in the last decade.
* No device should evade law enforcement
With the implementation of the Treasury Single Account Law, the information of all financial operations of the government will be concentrated in one place, so that all receipts are directly deposited into the treasury and payments are made directly from the treasury to the final beneficiary. By increasing the transparency and online monitoring of the financial transactions of government institutions, the treasury unit account makes it possible to directly monitor their resources and expenses and acts as an obstacle to the loss of financial resources.
For this reason, universities of medical sciences should also join the account of the treasury unit as soon as possible so that the public finance system of the country is accompanied by a real discipline and the officials can allocate funds with a realistic view for budgeting in the budget laws.
Until now, the lack of accounting tools of the treasury unit had caused that it was not possible to make an accurate estimate of the need for resources of each unit, and because of this, there were problems in estimating the budget deficit, and it was not possible to prevent the deviation and waste of resources. Therefore, as one of the departments of the government, universities of medical sciences should also comply with this law in order to have a complete understanding of the budget deficit, which is an economic problem.
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