NHS was accused of wastage of money after it was revealed on Monday that Health chiefs paid £26million to a private firm for operations that actually never took place.

It has been known that NHS signed a £70million contract with Netcare, a South African Company, for operating about 9,000 patients a year at the Greater Manchester Surgical Centre in Trafford.

The blame is that less than two thirds of the operations were conducted. It has been said that 90% of general surgery operations that were bought were used while 70% of orthopedic operations and 30% of ear, nose and throat procedures were conducted.

According to the deal that NHS signed with Netcare, even after such less number of operations, NHS had to pay the entire amount.

Ironically, the amount of money that has been wasted in this deal would have been enough to pay salaries of 1,000 nurses for a year.

It was stated by the Patients' Council Paul Mainwaring that the money could have been much better spent. It has been calculated that £26million would also have been enough for financing 100,000 overnight stays in hospital.

Also, the amount has been said to be sufficient for constructing Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre, which is known as most advanced cancer research units globally.