Only the New GPC has been pre-qualified to supply drugs to the health sector and Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon said that it was because the company outscored competitors not only in safety requirements but also in local investment.
“I would say this, if one were to look at the investments that have been made by this company…one can anticipate what kind of rewards or what kind of market control they would have…If you want to have a commandeering presence, you have to put the money in,” Luncheon told reporters at his post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday.
There has been great public interest in this decision as there are concerns that the government has consistently favoured the New GPC over the past decade or so for drug supplies because of the close relationship between senior government officials and the head of the New GPC. Billions of dollars are at stake in these contracts.