With Minister of Public Health, Dr George Norton scheduled to submit his report today on allegations of procurement malpractices by some of his staff, President David Granger will soon appoint an independent investigative team which will report with recommendations on the issue.
The allegations pertain to Ministry of Health staff passing insider information to bidders seeking lucrative drug procurement contracts, among other procurement malpractices.
“Cabinet says that while he [Norton] will provide a report on a matter he raised about drug procurement, it feels that there should be an independent investigation because you cannot have someone from the ministry of health investigating the ministry of health,” a source close to the issue told Stabroek News yesterday.
“This is a very serious matter and he will provide and hand in his report with all the things he knows and the allegations he would have heard and so forth, but then there will be a presidential investigation,” the source added.
Stabroek News was told that complaints were made to the Minister of Public Health and other officials at the ministry about staff members’ improper behavior as it relates to procurement of drugs for the ministry.
This newspaper understands that there are records of cellphone discussions between staff at the Ministry of Public Health and bidders as it pertains to specific drug tenders.
“The allegations are damning to say the least… I don’t know how the persons will try to justify their actions when there are cellphone chats and all of that as evidence,” one source said.
The persons making the allegations had issued an ultimatum to the ministry, which they asked to do an in-depth probe of the officials involved, or they would go to the media with the information and evidence they had, sources say.
Minister of State Joseph Harmon last week said that Cabinet had asked Norton to investigate. He had noted that government could not make a decision until all the facts are before it. “At this point in time, we still have allegations and we are basically asking the Minister of Public Health to provide sufficient information on which any future action by the state would take place,” he asserted.
Permanent Secretary of the ministry Trevor Thomas was away from duty, on vacation, when Norton learned of the allegations and when he returned to work on Monday, he had to provide his minister with information for the report given that he is the person responsible for the financial transactions of the ministry.
He will most probably be called before the investigative team also because of the capacity and scope of his work and will have to answer to various questions on the allegations.
It was explained to this newspaper that one of the primary reasons that Cabinet recommended a presidential probe was that if a person or body was chosen they would have subpoena powers to call on any person to report to them on the issue.
In addition, with an independent probe, government expects not only transparency and fairness in reportage but hopes that the recommendations given will serve as a guide to bettering the ministry’s procurement processes and practices.
“This is a very serious area we are dealing with here and we are talking about billions in tenders for healthcare products and services annually. Government is not playing with these issues or taking them lightly at all. In opposition we were very critical of the process (under the PPP/C government) and we cannot afford to lay back and watch the same thing we condemned happen under us,” an official said.
“A lot can come out from this report also because this thing is deep. So not only will we see the areas that need tightening but also will have ample recommendations to correct the faults. This investigation is a step taken in the right direction and shows that we are serious about transparency and these things,” the official added.
Procurement Manager
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Health has advertised a job vacancy for a Procurement Manager and Norton told Stabroek News that it was one step towards a revamping of the procurement process at the ministry.
He said he was surprised that a ministry that is responsible for procuring millions in medical drugs and services had no such designated officer.
He said that currently, although the person does not function under the name, an unqualified individual was overseeing the duties.
Norton also boasted that “things are starting to look up” at the ministry as the time from requisition to delivery of drugs across the country has been shortened.
He said the faster system in the delivery of drugs saw the direct involvement of him and the junior minister as if either was going out of town “we can take the medications with us. We are doing it be it on the river or whatever distances. When we go, we are not going empty handed and that is just direct delivery. We have a system now like never before where we are ensuring that invoices are in and delivery out in no time,” he said.
“This way we won’t have our storerooms packed up with drugs while an area doesn’t have what they need. Within days they are getting what is needed.”
The Ministry of Health, under the previous PPP/C administration, had been highly criticised over its procurement practices, particularly the awards of drug contracts to New GPC.
The former government had introduced new pre-qualification guidelines for those wishing to supply drugs to the public sector and critics had charged that these had been heavily skewed in favour of New GPC to ensure that it was the only company to prequalify.
In September last year, then permanent secretary Leslie Cadogan, was dismissed for alleged gross negligence and misconduct in the performance of his duties.
A letter, dated August 31, 2015, from Harmon to Cadogan, said that he was being dismissed in accordance with Clause 7 (a) of his contract. The letter went on to blame him for various problems related to drug procurement.
