The Public Procurement Commission (PPC) will “soon” complete its report into the purchase of over $605M in emergency drugs for the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) which breached the national procurement law.
“It will be completed soon. We are still working on it, but soon, soon,” Chairman of the PPC Carol Corbin told Stabroek News when contacted. Corbin would not commit to a specific date.
The PPC, had in late March invited members of the public who had information pertaining to procurement matters at the GPHC and Ministry of Public Health to submit written statements to assist in the probe.
The PPC had announced the investigation, in keeping with its functions as detailed in Article 212(AA). (1) of the Constitution. “In this regard, the Public Procurement Commission is in the process of collecting and reviewing relevant information from various stakeholders within the national procurement system and will conduct interviews and examine documentation as deemed necessary,” it said in a statement.
And since the subject of the investigation is of national interest and has resulted in significant public concern, according to the PPC, it will submit its findings to the National Assembly.
The Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) Board is also still working on a separate investigation of the same matter.
Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence’s acknowledgement that she `fast-tracked’ the purchase from Trinidad conglomerate ANSA McAl along with three smaller acquisitions, prompted public consternation and calls for an inquiry into the matter.
Lawrence, herself, asked for the board of the GPHC to investigate the circumstances behind the purchase. Lawrence in her defence has said that while she `fast-tracked’ the purchases because of the emergency needs of the GPHC, she didn’t have anything to do with the actual procurement.
GPHC Board Chairman Kesaundra Alves has already said that government played no role in the actual procurement of the drugs.
Alves said that the large amount of drugs that was urgently needed was because of patients likely hoarding medication, among other things.
In addition to drug hoarding, she pointed out that other contributing factors stemmed from document tampering in the finance department and GPHC assisting other hospitals and regions with drugs to meet their shortages.
“The government played no role in that procurement. That was the Georgetown Public Hospital… so no government involvement in that process”, Alves told the press earlier this month.
