Ministry explanation for $605M drug purchase delayed
With questions mounting as to how the national procurement board was unaware of a $605M emergency drug purchase for the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), the Ministry of Public Health yesterday deferred the promised release of a statement providing an explanation.
Doubts are likely to arise over whether the deal should proceed in light of the fact that the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) was unaware of what has now emerged to be a single-sourcing arrangement between the GPHC and ANSA McAl for the drugs.
A promised public explanation from Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence had to be “reworked” and will be issued sometime today.
“Well, we had a statement but that had to be [quashed]… This is like a running story. I wasn’t here all the time. I am here for not a proper month. So what happens is I have to talk with people to get a sense of what happened and what is going to happen,” Public Relations Officer of the ministry Terrence Esse boom told Stabroek News yesterday in response to queries on the promised statement.
“Over the weekend” he also added, before specifying “definitely tomorrow (Saturday),” when asked which day on the weekend.
When Cabinet Secretary and Minister of State Joseph Harmon was asked yesterday if Cabinet is aware of the contract and had approved the sum, he would not comment. He simply said that Lawrence would issue an explanation.
“The Minister of Public Health, I believe, has said that she will make a public statement on that matter… if it has not been made, [then] it will be made, with respect to the procurement,” Harmon asserted.
“These are contracts that are not awarded by GPHC on its own; that is a combination of several purchases. The minister will address it because the matter basically came to the head because one company basically felt that they had the right to the procurement of drugs in the Ministry of Public Health. The minister has explained to me a very clear explanation and I prefer that she gives that explanation because I might not have all of the facts, but clearly the minister has all of the facts relating to that particular purchase,” he added.
Lawrence on Thursday, on the sidelines of the sitting of the National Assembly, informed that she would provide a detailed statement on the matter yesterday.
The issue surrounds a $605M contract award to ANSA McAl that the NPTAB said it knows nothing about, although the company insists that it followed the procurement process. “I will make a comment and it will soon be sent to all the media houses,” Lawrence had said. Pressed further, she stressed, “This is what I will say: I am not for sale neither is my integrity. My job is to ensure that we provide the best service to the people of Guyana.”
Told that that was not the issue and if she would address the issue of the Ministry of Health emphasizing over the recent months that it and the GPHC did not have a drug shortage, and why it would suddenly need so much in emergency drugs, she would only say, “You will have my full comment on the matter soon.” When asked how soon she said by Friday.
Simultaneously
Chairman of the NPTAB Berkley Wickham told Stabroek News on Thursday that he had not seen the contract or approved the sum. “All I can tell you is that I received a letter with some documents attached one morning and almost simultaneously there was a story in your paper about the said letter,” he stated.
According to the letter, seen by Stabroek News, Chief Executive Officer (Ag) of the GPHC, Allan Johnson wrote to Wickham on February 28, 2017 seeking approval for the emergency medical supplies. “The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation is requesting approval from the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board to procure Emergency Medical Supplies. These emergency supplies were authorized by the Hon. Volda Lawrence, Minister of Public Health… The pharmaceuticals supplied by this company was at the time of request available only from this supplier,” the letter read.
It would appear that this approval was sought by the GPHC from the NPTAB only after the emergency process had been initiated with ANSA McAl.
ANSA has said that it complied fully with the procurement process set out by the GPHC.
ANSA, in a statement on Wednesday, said that a meeting was held in the GPHC conference room on January 16, 2017 with all suppliers to address stock shortages and the urgent need for some products. It was announced that this was because the previous invitation to tender in November of 2016 had been compromised, resulting in a further delay of supplies. It added that tender documents had been prepared for emergency supplies with specific tendering process requirements. ANSA said it was one of four companies asked to bid on a list of products that the GPHC said were either out of stock or numbers were low. ANSA said that it adhered to the process and submitted a bid for the emergency supplies on February 14.
“(ANSA) is renowned for branded, quality products as they represent 13 of the top 25 pharmaceutical companies in the world. The companies and their products have proven to be compliant, safe and of the correct efficacy”, the statement said in reply to the concerns raised in the Stabroek News report on Wednesday that some of the items being supplied by ANSA could have been sourced cheaper from elsewhere.
There was no announcement from the GPHC or the Ministry of Public Health in January this year that emergency tendering would be pursued for the supply of drugs to the hospital. Neither the GPHC nor the Ministry of Public Health has since said anything about the tender for emergency supplies.
Wickham said on Thursday that neither he nor any representative of the NPTAB was present at the January 16th meeting in the GPHC conference room. “I was at no meeting to discuss the procurement of drugs for the GPHC at GPHC or the Ministry of Health,” he said.
He explained in the presence of his Deputy, Ms L. Lawrence that the NPTAB had received four bids last year for the supply of medical supplies for GPHC pegged at $1.5B.
This newspaper understands that four out of the last five public tenders issued by the GPHC in the last four months were postponed and then cancelled because of procurement irregularities pertaining to insider dealings. It was a result of the allegation that these tenders were faulty that led to a governmentordered Commission of Inquiry into procurement irregularities at the Ministry of Health.
The NPTAB Chairman said that as far as he knows his agency was awaiting the retender of the contracts and it is why he found the “sole sourcing” request to ANSA that he was handed difficult to comprehend.
Wickham explained that upon receiving and reading the letter, and believing the request to absurd, he immediately informed Lawrence and that he did not approve the request.
He explained “I have not approved any money because I cannot (do it) just like that. I saw the letter and I said what craziness is this because that is not how it is done. Someone can’t just send a letter to me to approve six hundred and something million dollars, so I notified Lawrence.”