$$M bond contract …Health Minister’s remarks on rental fees misleading - New GPC

$$M bond contract …Health Minister’s remarks on rental fees misleading – New GPC

Aug 11, 2016 News

Before all of his Parliamentary colleagues on Monday, Public Health Minister, Dr. George Norton boldly

Public Health Minister, Dr. George Norton

stated that in the interest of cost effectiveness, another company was selected to store drugs and other pharmaceuticals for the Ministry of Public Health and the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) instead of New GPC, which is owned by Dr. Ranjisinghi (Bobby) Ramroop.
Dr. Norton asserted that Ramroop’s rental fees per month was $19.2M while the other entity, Linden Holding Inc. was only going to cost the government $12.5M.
New GPC has however exposed Norton’s claims to be far from the truth. In fact, the company says that it has always stored pharmaceuticals for the Government in its 70,000 sq ft warehouse “free of charge.”
In a statement to the media yesterday, the company said that it has been storing pharmaceuticals at its warehouse without charges to the Government for more than a decade up to March 1, 2016. The corporation said it invested hundreds of millions into the most extensive and modern warehousing facility for the Government’s pharmaceuticals.
The New GPC boasted that it has the necessary equipment, staff, information technology, security, certification and sanitation to comply with international health standards.
It said too, that the facility has three separate temperature control zones for the storage of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals, in addition to a separate area for the storage of controlled substances.

New GPC CEO,
Bobby Ramroop

“It also has testing facilities for pharmaceuticals as well as several loading docks to handle the multiple containers that are usually in the government procurement shipment,” the company stated.
New GPC added, “After the Ministry of Public Health indicated substantive and substantial alterations in the old bidding procedure for pharmaceuticals on March 1, last, they approached the New GPC to continue providing storage for pharmaceuticals for the Ministry of Public Health and the GPHC.”
The company said that at that point it indicated that it would charge the government a rate of $237/sq foot for the state-of-the-art storage facility.
New GPC said that contrary to Norton’s claims, it has not received a single cent from the government for the rentals due since March 1, last, even though there are substantial quantities of pharmaceuticals being stored in the warehouse.
The company also made it clear that there has never been a rental agreement before with the past government.
In an earlier interview with this newspaper, former Auditor General (AG), Dr. Anand Goolsarran had said that Government’s advancement of $25M for an unfinished security bond for the storage of drugs and other pharmaceuticals represents a clear case of abuse of the Contingencies Fund.

A section of New GPC’s warehouse.

The Chartered Accountant made it clear that advances should only be made from the Fund when the matter is urgent, unforeseen, cannot be postponed without jeopardizing the public interest, and no other provision has been made for it.
“Would it not be more cost-effective if the Government were to invest in constructing its own facility? Years ago, we had a Government Pharmacy Bond in Kingston, Georgetown. That was dismantled to make way for the Marriott Hotel. I understand that the Government has a pharmacy bond at Diamond. Why was this not utilized? Why did they go the route of sole sourcing for the bond?” inquired Goolsarran.
The Public Health Minister was asked this very question by Opposition Member, Joseph Hamilton on Monday. But he danced around the question, only offering that he hopes that Government would not have to continue the use of the facility for too long.
Goolsarran however stressed that there was enough time for Government to advertise for the rental of a facility for the storage of pharmaceuticals. He said it is therefore difficult for him to accept that it was an emergency situation that warranted sole sourcing. “It is just unacceptable,” Goolsarran opined.
The Public Health Minister was unable to answer a number of questions posed by the political opposition in relation to the money taken from the Fund for the bond which is located in Albouystown.
He was unable to tell the House who were the principals of the Linden Holding Company, when it was registered, when the three-year contract was signed, and who signed on Government’s behalf.
Some critics are opining that Dr. Norton is in essence being hypocritical, since he was one of the first ministers who told the Eleventh Parliament that the days of sole sourcing are over.

1 thoughts on “$$M bond contract …Health Minister’s remarks on rental fees misleading – New GPC”

Surujpaul Rampersaud August 11, 2016 at 11:05 am

Someone has it wrong. Guyanese need to know the truth. Time now for the auditors to speak out on the facts. Is the Minister, unaware of the facts or is Mr Ramroop just lying. Guyanese need the truth.