The Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) on Wednesday lambasted the government over what it said were massive shortages of drugs at hospitals, charging that at one facility 400 surgeries couldn’t be done because anaesthetics were not available.
At a press conference, Member of Parliament, Dr. Vindhya Persaud said it was reported that 100 percent of the sum allocated was already expended for drugs in the case of Upper Demerara-Berbice and East Berbice-Corentyne.
Dr. Persaud, as Head of the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Social Ser-vices said during recent visits to the New Amster-dam, Diamond, Linden and Georgetown Public hospitals, they discovered a crippling drug shortage.
The government has played down reports of drugs shortages but has admitted to difficulties in the procurement system and tampering with documentation by staff among other things. The government has since commissioned an audit of health sector procurement which is being funded by PAHO/WHO.
Also present at Wednesday’s press conference were PPP/C MPs Juan Edghill, Dr Frank Anthony and Chief Whip, Gail Teixiera.
At the New Amsterdam Hospital, Dr Persaud said that they were told that over 400 surgeries could not have been performed because anesthetics were not available.
They also learnt that there were severe shortages of medications for chronic non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension and doctors had said that they were at their wits end to treat patients.
Dr. Persaud said they were also told that many pieces of equipment and machinery have not been functioning since last year. As a result, doctors in critical areas like the Intensive Care Unit, emergency medicine and the cardiac unit, could not validate their clinical findings.
According to her, the doctors had said that they had brought the issues to the hospitals’ administration but yet nothing had been done.
She found it “laughable” that instead of an under water sealed drain to remove fluid from a patient’s chest they were shown a submersible pump. At the Diamond Hospital, she said, there was a shortage of 89 crucial drugs and out of that figure, she made a list of 19 that they did not have any of.
She said, too, that were told that there were no sterile gloves at the hospital that were necessary for certain procedures to avoid the risk of infection. The hospital was also without VCT kits that are used for HIV testing so patients had to be sent elsewhere to get it done.
Dr. Persaud said she could not comprehend the statement by a minister that the shortage of drugs reported will not affect the delivery of health care.
She contended that when the parliamentary team goes to any institution, they should not be prevented from seeing anything. She was referring to the Georgetown Public Hospital’s drug bond that she and her parliamentary team were prevented from inspecting. She said that there are many shortcomings when it comes to the storage facility at the hospital’s bond.
Meanwhile, Edghill believes that in August when government goes on Parliamentary recess, it will go on a spending spree to facilitate drug purchases.
“Let me tell you what I anticipate, the reckless spending will take place during the recess, when parliament goes into recess in August … and then it will come sometime in October as a financial paper,” he said.
He told the media, “If you already spend 77 percent of the GPHC budget in January and February on drugs and medical supplies you know there will be huge supplementary.”
With regards to the financial affairs at the GPHC, Edghill recalled that with a total $8.5B for the year, GHPC’s employment costs will exhaust $3.1B while Capital Expenditure is budgeted at $527M. The cost for meals and dietary supplies, according to the budget is $537M and cleaning supplies and other items have been budgeted at $579M.
He pointed out that this means: “You have about $2.6B for the year for the procurement of drugs and medical supplies.”
According to him, out of that, $2B has already been spent in the first two months of the year, leaving government the option of turning to the treasury to meet the shortfalls.
Dr. Anthony said it was found that Lawrence Singh, who is the provider of the controversial Sussex Street drug bond is now supplying drugs to the government.
He also lashed out at the government for refusing to purchase drugs from the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation, an internationally pre-qualified supplier and for doing so from other entities.
