Computer software that was designed to improve the management of drugs and other items within the Ministry of Health failed to function as it should due to the indiscipline of employees, but the Ministry has since taken measures to prevent recurrences, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) heard yesterday.
Poor data management and data input in a timely fashion created incorrect information on what was available and what was not and in some cases resulted in medication being left to expire. The revelation was made by officials from the Ministry of Health to the PAC yesterday when the 2017 and 2018 reports were scrutinized. However, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Malcom Watkins, told the PAC that since he assumed the role of Permanent Secretary at the ministry, work has been ongoing to update the system to ensure better accounting at the Materials Management Unit (MMU) in Diamond.