Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence’s emergency drug purchases for the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) are not transparent, according to Trans-parency Institute of Guyana Inc. (TIGI).
“We already know for sure that it is not transparent,” TIGI Director Alfred Bhulai told Stabroek News yesterday, before adding that the organisation will make a full statement on the issue next week.
He informed that TIGI has been looking at the issue and its members will meet next Tuesday and will compile a formal report to be publicised.
Lawrence has defended fast-tracking the procurement of $605M in drugs from ANSA McAL, which was done without the knowledge of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB).
The procedure did not conform to the provisions of the Public Procurement Act. To date, Lawrence has not explained under what provisions of the Act the purchase was made, although she has claimed that the law was not violated.
Lawrence has said that she fast-tracked the purchases due to a crisis-level drug shortage.
Her predecessor, Dr George Norton, who served up until Lawrence’s appointment at the start of the year, has stated that there was indeed a drug shortage. It is unclear if Cabinet was aware of the contract before the matter was highlighted in the press.
The opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has questioned the size of ANSA McAL’s contract, while saying that a smaller amount could have been used to make an emergency purchase while a public tender was pursued for the remainder of the drugs.
Among the supplies covered by the contract are $35M in eye drops and ointments, $20M plus in creams, ointments and lotions and $6M in suppositories and pessaries. The list also includes the purchase of 1.8M paracetamol tablets and 270,000 Ibuprofen tablets, pegged at a total of $8.2M.
While a source at the NPTAB would not say yesterday if the agency has approved the $605M procurement requested by Lawrence, it was noted that the law caters for the purchase of emergency supplies. However, the source noted that this is only in the event of “serious emergencies or a national catastrophe” and the NPTAB could not be reached. The source said that they would expect that government would spend the funds and to cater for the emergency needs of the people and deal with processes after. “I don’t know if this was such a case. I guess you would have to take that up with the minister and whoever else determined that it take this route,” the official said. “The law is the law and the President has certain powers to deal with emergencies also… if you want to know the technicalities, I suggest you take it up with the lawyers and legal people of government…,”the source added.
Lawrence has made clear that it was not a single sourcing arrangement since supplies were also purchased from three other companies—New GPC, Health 2000 and Chirosyn Discovery.
The Procurement Act outlines the procedure for single sourcing items but it makes no mention of a minister or government official “fast tracking” a contract.
The Act states that a procuring entity may engage in single-source procurement when “the goods or construction are available only from a particular supplier or contractor, or a particular supplier or contractor has exclusive rights with respect to the goods or construction, and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists” and if “the services, by reason of their highly complex or specialized nature, are available from only one source.”
It also caters for using such a method in the event of catastrophic events, where there would be urgent needs for the goods, services or construction “making it impractical to use other methods of procurement because of the time involved in using those methods.”
It also provides for single sourcing where, “The procuring entity, having procured goods, services, equipment or technology from a supplier or contractor, determines that additional supplies must be procured from that supplier or contractor for reasons of standardization or because of the need for compatibility with existing goods, services, equipment or technology, taking into account the effectiveness of the original procurement in meeting the needs of the procuring entity, the limited size of the proposed procurement in relation to the original procurement, the reasonableness of the price and the unsuitability of alternatives to the goods in question.”
The law also provides for single sourcing as a result of national security concerns.
