The Health Ministry has spent the last 10 months rebuilding its monitoring system to ensure it is effective in its forecasting in order to avert drug shortages, according to Permanent Secretary Malcolm Watkins.
Watkins made the disclosure on Friday while in the hot seat before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after being asked about new systems that have been put in place to monitor drug shortages and expirations, which have long plagued the ministry.
Watkins pointed out that he inherited an “extremely broken system,” which was unable to provide the data necessary for forecasting and quantifying what was needed.
“As it relates currently, that’s what we’ve been working on over the last 10 months… to rebuild the system… In the last 10 months, we have set up a system of ensuring that the warehouse tracks the distribution data to the region, so we can develop historical trends which we have to recreate. We ensured that the inventory in the warehouse is more accurate with more frequent cycle counts and inventory management currently,” he said.
Watkins informed the PAC members that the ministry has established a robust reconciliation system and dedicated more staff to track the deliveries of medical supplies and drugs coming in at real time.
He further explained that they have a daily meeting that tracks the operation flow of the ministry along with delivery notes within a 48-hour cycle to ensure they are aware of exactly how much delivery notes are pending.
“We are hoping with these systems that we are putting in place that it will help to improve the supply chain management and bring the results we are all hoping to achieve. But the reality is the system I inherited would’ve taken in any normal circumstances and will take multiple years to repair,” Watkins stressed.
The PAC hearing was centred on the findings of the 2016 Auditor General’s Report, which highlighted the shortages, procurement issues, the Sussex Street bond deal and overpayments, among other things.
Overpayments
It was pointed out that during the audited year that the ministry spent $1.784 million overpaid as net salaries to 16 employees due to pay change directives not being forwarded in a timely manner to the Central Accounting Unit of the Ministry of Finance.
Former Permanent Secretary Trevor Thomas, who was manning the Ministry during the period in question, explained that the situation occurred due to slow processing of documents or employees walking off the job without any notice. He stressed, too, that it has been difficult to communicate with personnel in mainly hinterland regions and by time a communication is received the payments had been made already.
During his tenure, he told the PAC, the ministry had been making efforts to retrieve the sums but they were challenges in doing so.
Accountant General Jennifer Chapman told the committee that systems do exist in the public service sector to prevent such occurrences. She stated that the PS of a ministry can write to the Accountant General and inform them of a person’s resignation before a payroll is finalized or they can go through the banks to cease payments.
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira nonetheless stated that the explanation given by Thomas was one that is used a lot as she called for faster reporting of resignation by staff to the Central Accounting Unit.
“We have to be structured and systemic… I keep hearing ministries say people walk off and we can’t do anything about it. There is means and ways that the PS can say to the finance people that the following people are not here and stop the payroll,” she suggested.
Watkins, however stressed that his ministry is working to eliminate cases of overpayments to persons who have walked off the job.
Friday’s hearing ended prematurely as the PAC unanimously decided to suspend its scrutiny of the ministry’s past expenditure to give Watkins and his team additional time to prepare themselves for questioning.
As it became evident that the team was ill prepared as they continuously failed to offer substantial answers, Chairman of the Committee Jermaine Figueira suggested that they be recalled at another time.
“PS, let me be clear: A lot of the questions being posed by the members are either deferred to someone else and whoever it is deferred to cannot provide [the] PAC with a response. I am persuaded PS, you and your team are not well prepared to make an appearance [before the] PAC and… I propose you come back and make an appearance to answer these questions that the members of the PAC have,” Figueira told Watkins at the end of the hearing.
In addition, APNU+AFC Member David Patterson noted that specific guidelines should be given to the accounting officers so that they can better prepare themselves to answer questions on the AG’s report.
Teixeira also requested that the accounting officers educate themselves on the Sussex street drug bond deal.
“I am willing to say let’s get more information and let the ministry provide that… My concern is, I assume the document the PS will bring to us is the same contract that Dr [George] Norton, the then Minister of Health, had distributed to the Clerk of the National Assembly… I will also like to ask in light of what was uncovered during that period —did the Auditor General consider doing a special audit? And I ask for total cost of contract in 2018,” the minister said.
Opposition Member of Parliament Ganesh Mahipaul also suggested that the PS utilise the availability of his staff and apprise himself of the information that is required so that he will be in a better position to give the “PAC ample and proper responses to the various paragraphs that have to be answered by your ministry.”
