While ANSA McAl says it adhered to a procurement process which saw it getting a contract for the supply of $605M in drugs to the Georgetown Public Hospital, the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) says that it has not seen the contract or approved any such 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,” Chairman of the NPTAB, Berkley Wickham told Stabroek News, when contacted, yesterday.
He was referring to a news item which appeared in Wednesday’s edition of Stabroek News headlined `GPHC seeks approval for $605m emergency purchase from ANSA McAl’.
“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 (Public Health) Minister (Volda) Lawrence”, he added.
Wickham’s statement will raise major questions about the procurement system which has come under increasing scrutiny – particularly over drug purchases – and which was to have straightened out problems since APNU+AFC entered office in 2015.
According to a 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.
It would appear that this approval was sought only after the emergency process had been initiated with ANSA McAl. The letter to Wickham stated that the emergency supplies were authorised by Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence. It added that “The pharmaceuticals supplied by this company (ANSA McAl) was at the time of request available only from this supplier”.
Attached to the letter submitted by Johnson to Wickham was an invoice from ANSA McAl of the same date – February 28th, 2017 – under the signature of Pharmaceutical Manager, Sunesh Maikoo.
Responding to a report in the Wednesday edition of the Stabroek News on the matter, which stated that the GPHC had sought approval for the emergency purchase of $605M worth of drugs from ANSA McAl Trading Limited, on an emergency basis, ANSA said that it complied fully with the procurement process set out by GPHC.
ANSA in a statement 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.
Yesterday, Wickham said that neither he nor any representative of the agency 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…what I am telling you is that this is the first I am hearing of this meeting,” Wickham asserted.
He explained in the presence of his Deputy, Ms L. Lawrence that 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 GPHC in the last four months were postponed and then cancelled because of procurement irregularities pertaining to insider trading. It was a result of the allegation that these tenders were faulty that led to a government-ordered 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.
He referred this newspaper to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation for any questions on the matter saying that he was just as puzzled about the issue. On hearing that Stabroek News’ attempts to get comments from the GPHC were futile he pointed to the public health minister, adding that she was already aware of the matter, her name was stated on the letter and it was her ministry. “The best person to ask would be Minister Lawrence because like I said, when I got the letter I notified her”, Wickham told Stabroek News.
This newspaper caught up with Lawrence on the sidelines of parliament yesterday.
When questioned by Stabroek News, she said, “Haven’t you already printed something in the Stabroek News? You said you contacted me and you didn’t. I will make a comment and it will soon be sent to all the media houses.”
This newspaper tried multiple times contacting Lawrence and her assistant on their mobile phones on Tuesday for a comment on the $605m emergency drugs tender but all calls went unanswered and subsequently to voicemail.
Pressed for a response, Lawrence 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. Especially those people especially those facilities that you have to pay. Foremost and utmost priority that we put this health service in a position where we can get those health services right.”
Told that that was not the matter and if she would address the issue of the Ministry of Health emphasising over the months that it and the GPHC did not have a drug shortage, and why it would suddenly need so much money 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 and told that tomorrow (today) would be Friday she said, “well tomorrow.”
