For the first two months of this year, a total of $1,304,439,390 was spent on drugs for the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), nearly double what was spent for the whole of last year, according to Minister of Public Heath Volda Lawrence.
The disclosure was made in response to written questions asked by Opposition PPP/C Member of Parliament Juan Edghill and circulated in the National Assembly yesterday.
In a series of questions, Edghill sought to ascertain how drugs and other medical supplies were being procured and delivered in the public health sector.
Asked to state how much was spent for the purchase of drugs and medical supplies at the hospital from January 1, 2016 to February, Lawrence, in her response, said $681,205,510 were spent on drugs and $55,622,563 on medical supplies in 2016. She also noted that $1,304,439,390 were spent on drugs and $761,060,748 on medical supplies in the first two months of 2017.
She noted that of the sum spent on drugs in 2016, $631 million, equivalent to over 90%, was spent for “emergency pharmaceuticals.”
Also stated was that tenders for the procurement of both pharmaceuticals and medical supplies were invited, except in the instance of the emergency supplies, for which restrictive tendering was used.
This answer is likely to lead to even more questions as Edghill’s questions follow a controversy which developed over the fast-tracking of a $605 million emergency drug purchase at the hospital in March.
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.
Both the GPHC Board and the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) are still working on their respective investigations into the procurement, which did not comply with the procurement law.
Lawrence also told the National Assembly that $1,635,070,822 were spent in 2016 for the procurement of drugs. The minister noted in her written response that this sum represented 95.1% of the budgeted allocation for the year.
She further explained that $395,251,668 in supplies were not delivered within the time stipulated by the contracts. Of the three identified suppliers who failed to deliver on time, the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Agency (New GPC) accounted for more than 90% of this sum.
New GPC failed to supply $381,193,319 in products, while Ansa McAl Trading Ltd failed to supply $12,488,630 and Global Healthcare Supplies Inc, $2,569,719.
The response explains that all the contracts were publicly advertised and awarded by the National Procurement, Tender and Administration Board (NPTAB) through public tendering, sole sourcing, restricted tendering and shopping.
‘Blacklisted’
Lawrence, in response to a question from Edghill, also informed the House that in 2016 suppliers failed in the timely delivery of more than $396 million in drugs and medical supplies for the Ministry of Public Health, while there were more than 200 instances when suppliers attempted to provide the public health system with drugs which were close to their expiry date.
Asked to identify suppliers who delivered expired or nearly expired drugs to the ministry, Lawrence identified Caribbean Medical Supplies, New GPC, Western Scientific, Global Health Care and IPA.
According to her response, Caribbean Medical Supplies accounted for the largest number of these instances (more than 100), while New GPC accounted for 34 instances, Western Scientific for 12, Global Health Care for 5 and International Pharmaceutical Agency (IPA) for 1. Stabroek News understands that Caribbean Medical Supplies has since been blacklisted by the Food and Drug Department.
Edghill had also asked the minister to identify the specific drug or medical supply procured in each case along with their dollar value. While an attached spreadsheet provided most of the requested data, there was no information as to the specific value of the products which were unacceptable.
Additionally, Meditron failed to deliver $11,621,003 in products within the time stipulated in the contract, while IPA failed to deliver $1,611,282 of products and Global Health Care Supplies failed to supply $611,530.
Lawrence also reported that during last year GPHC was also provided with inferior or substandard drugs from the New GPC and the IPA. IPA provided the hospital with the Erythropoietin drug (used to treat kidney disease) at the wrong temperature, she said, while New GPC provided discoloured tablets, tablets with pungent odours and soda lime with incorrect granule composition. There was no information provided as to the quantity or dollar value of the products that were found to be unacceptable.
