Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence on Friday appeared before the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) to answer questions on the purchase of $605 million in emergency drugs for the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) in violation of the procurement law.
The purchase, which was drawn to the public’s notice by Stabroek News in March, has raised questions about the APNU+AFC government’s commitment to abiding by the procurement laws and the role of one of its senior ministers in the debacle. The transaction is also seen as a major test of the independence of the fledgling PPC, which is intended to ensure procurement probity after years of questionable transactions particularly in the health sector.
Sources told this newspaper that the minister controverted a press release sent out by her ministry back in March of this year where it said she admitted to “fast tracking” the process and had blamed a conspiracy among drug suppliers and ministry staff for the crisis in the sector at the time she was appointed.
The statement had also said, “Moles at the GPHC procurement system have constantly been leaking information to the media with the aim of discrediting officials of the institution and often times it is misinformation. The tender process was never breached and the route to procure the emergency supplies was fast tracked.”
This newspaper understands that Lawrence was the last person to give a statement to the commission as the inquiry nears completion.
“We are almost finished and we should be seeing the report completed soon,” Chairman of the PPC Carol Corbin told Stabroek News when contacted on Friday.
The PPC’s investigation is expected to provide details on the four emergency contracts and is to outline how ANSA McAL was awarded the bulk of the over $605 million in purchases without the knowledge of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). New GPC, the Eccles, East Bank Demerara-based Health 2000 and Canadian entity Chirosyn Discovery were the other suppliers in the emergency process.
While the PPC Chairman would not give details of Lawrence’s appearance or preliminary findings of the report, she said the commission interviewed a number of persons and was “focusing on the completion of the report right now.”
This newspaper understands that representatives from ANSA McAL, New GPC and International Pharmaceutical Agency also gave statements to the commission and sources close to the companies have said that they too are awaiting the findings of the report.
The $605 million-plus purchase had been drawn to the public’s notice on March 8 this year. The Ministry of Public Health’s statement issued the following day, which informed of Lawrence’s role, was written as if Lawrence had been interviewed by someone in her ministry. As it had direct quotes.
“After meeting with public health officials around the country and at GPHC, the Honourable Minister was compelled in the interest of the health of the people of Guyana, to ensure that an adequate supply of drugs were immediately available in the country to meet the current crisis,” the statement read.
“To this end, she sought to fast track the procurement of these pharmaceuticals to minimise the negative effects on patients due to the shortage of some critical drugs. This influenced the decision to seek the greenlight from the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) for ANSA McAL to supply drugs and pharmaceuticals to the tune of some $605 million,” it added.
The Ministry of Public Health statement had also said that Lawrence had uncovered a combination of malpractices in her ministry.
When she moved from Social Protection to Public Health, Lawrence had said, she was “greeted with the news of a shortage of drugs in the system” and immediately held talks with Material Management Unit (MMU) staff of the Ministry of Public Health. She also visited several regional hospitals and the GPHC executives to correct the problem. “To deepen her anxieties, Lawrence said, three months after she is still uncovering a combination of skullduggery, collusion, delinquency, deliberate breaching of established sector protocol by Public Health staff, manipulation of the of system by importers with the support of employees and fabrication of records including evidence of bogus receipts,” the statement said.
It added, “So pervasive is the practice that we have had to call in the police to deal with staff who are selling drugs to private pharmacies, Lawrence disclosed.” The current drug shortage was a ploy manufactured by some unprincipled importers and crooked Public Health staff to enrich themselves Lawrence had said. She had pointed to the widespread practice among some suppliers who wait until close to the contractual delivery date and then indicate their inability to supply the items for which they have had been paid. Others, she had said supplied a few of the items then refused to supply the remainder, blaming unexpected changes in the global market prices. “This has created the supply gaps creating acute shortage especially in the outlying regions,” Lawrence had said.
While they are short-changing the public health sector the very items are available on the local market at very steep prices from the same suppliers and their pharmaceutical clients.
This has forced private health institutions nationwide to buy the now high-priced items in limited quantities to help meet the needs of their patients.
The minister had even asked 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.
There has been no word on the GPHC investigation except for its Chairman Kessaundra Alves saying last month that she would announce when it was completed.
While not specific to the $605 million drug purchase, Lawrence last month also answered to questions on overall drug purchases and said that for the first two months of this year, a total of $1,304,439,390 was spent on drugs for the GPHC. The total is nearly double what was spent for the whole of last year.
She noted that of the sum spent on drugs in 2016, $631 million, equivalent to over 90%, was spent for “emergency pharmaceuticals.”
It is unclear if the $605 million were accounted for in that figure but sources close to the purchase said that while the payments for the drugs were put on hold during the investigations, a “go ahead” was given to release the monies recently. This was after an audit of the drugs received was completed and met satisfactory findings that most were delivered.
The release of payment for the drugs supplies will raise further questions since if the PPC’s investigation finds that the purchase was unlawful the money should not be paid.
