E33.9m medical supplies from SwaziPharm not delivered
MBABANE – The Auditor General (AG), Timothy Matsebula, has reported that medical supplies worth E33 996 894.49 were purchased by government from SwaziPharm, but were not delivered.
He said the medical supplies were supposed to be delivered to the Central Medical Stores (CMS), through several payment vouchers.
“Upon reconciling financial records maintained by the accountant general, with transactions processed by the CMS, these supplies were found lacking matching goods received notes (GRNs),” he said in his financial audit report on the consolidated accounts of the Kingdom of Eswatini, for the year ended March 31, 2023, which was tabled in Parliament.
Debated
The information contained in the report remains allegations, which are yet to be debated by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The AG said this was in contravention of Section 52(3) of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, which requires principal secretaries (PSs) to put in place procedures consistent with the PFM Act, the Procurement Act, 2011, (Act No. 7 of 2011) or any other law for verifying the receipt of goods and services, prior to payment for the goods and services, or that the payment otherwise meets the terms of the contract between the public entity and the supplier.
“This discrepancy raised my concern about the actual occurrence, accuracy and completeness of the reported financial information related to procurement and inventory management.
“Concerning, is also the cost of undelivered supplies, mismanagement, potential errors, fraud, or misappropriation of medical supplies, which exponentially hikes the health budget,” he said.
He said he had advised the PS in the Ministry of Health to review and strengthen internal controls related to procurement and payment processes, highlighting that due care must be given that government pays for delivered consignments.
He also advised the PS to enhance documentation procedures, which ensure that all relevant details, such as quantity, description and dates, were accurately recorded on both the delivery notes, payment vouchers and goods received notes.
“Moreover, staff should be trained to create awareness and foster a culture of compliance,” he said.
Meanwhile, the AG also raised concern that SwaziPharm delivered medical supplies that had a life span of less than 18 months. The said medical supplies were worth E7 million. The AG said such was not compliant with set standards.
Some of the medical supplies with a short shelf life were Lasix Furosemide 500mg, which was E1 851 000, which had a shelf life of 16 months. The Fresubin intestamine 500ml was supplied while it had only three months of shelf life. Also, the Fresubin supportan 500ml had
just two months of shelf life when it was delivered.
“This was in contravention with the specifications and standards of the invitation to tender for the supply and delivery of pharmaceuticals and vaccines, which states that all pharmaceutical, vaccines and contraceptive products must, upon arrival at CMS, at Matsapha, have a remaining shelf life of not less than ¾ (three quarters) of the specified life remaining. For those items whose original shelf life is shorter than two years, they must have a remaining period of at least ¾ of their original shelf life remaining,” the AG said.
Waste
He cautioned that stocking medical supplies with a short shelf life increased the chances of supplies expiring before utilisation, leading to waste of resources and compromised patient care.
Matsebula said government was made to incur excessive costs that include handling and storage costs, incineration costs and transportation to the incineration facilities.
“Moreover, they are a cause an effect to the disruption of regular operations, necessitating emergency procurement, leading to increased costs and shortages.
“I advised the controlling officer
(PS) to enforce procurement guidelines that specify the acceptable minimum shelf life requirements for medical supplies, strengthen communication with suppliers to ensure that medical supplies with adequate shelf life are procured, implement a robust inventory management system to monitor the shelf life of existing supplies, facilitating timely usage and minimising waste,” Matsebula said.
At the time of audit, the AG said the Ministry of Health held an excessive amount of expired stock amounting to E13 434 806.62 that expired during the financial year ended March 31, 2023.
“This observation raised concern about the effectiveness of the stock management practices within the organisation,” he said.
Matsebula said he had informed the PS that the accumulation of expired stock, which had led to a financial loss of E13.4 million directly impacted the budget allocated for essential medical supplies and may lead to shortages in critical healthcare items and inability to provide timely and quality healthcare services. Moreover, this further causes government to suffer excessive costs that include handling and storage costs, incineration costs and transportation to the incineration facility,” he said.