Harmon avoids directly answering questions on contract for emergency drugs

Mar 18, 2017 News

Media operatives were left somewhat disappointed yesterday when Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, avoided giving a direct answer to questions regarding the recent procurement of emergency pharmaceuticals for the

Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence

Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
At a post cabinet press conference held at the Ministry of the Presidency, Harmon was asked to state if Cabinet knew about the award of a contract for the drugs, in which four companies benefitted, one being ANSA McAL Trading Limited.
He was also asked to provide some clarity on how much each company was awarded to supply drugs for GPHC.
Harmon did not acknowledge whether cabinet was aware of the contract for emergency drugs. Instead, he explained the process for the award of contracts.
The Cabinet Secretary said that contracts are made at the level of the government ministries where something is identified to be purchased by that entity.
“There is an evaluation committee that evaluates…and it makes its recommendation to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). After NPTAB deliberates on the contract, they finalize their positions on it and then it is sent to Cabinet for its no-objection. That is the process,” expressed Harmon.
The politician added, “Now until such time that something comes from NPTAB to Cabinet, then it would not be able to make a determination on any contract… So I will say to you, that is the process and this is where we are.”
The Cabinet Secretary also noted that the Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence will be making an additional statement that will point out several issues with regard to emergency drugs.
On Saturday last, Minister Lawrence informed the media that the collusion between moles in the public health system and a few crooked suppliers of pharmaceuticals, is what has led to her taking a controversial route in the recent procurement of emergency pharmaceuticals for GPHC.

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon

The Minister made this comment in an effort to correct misleading statements in some sections in the media.
The misguided comments she said, were in relation to certain documents which were leaked to the media, giving the false impression that the hospital tried to procure drugs from ANSA McAL Trading Limited through sole sourcing.
Lawrence stressed however that ANSA McAL was among four companies from which these emergency supplies were procured. The other companies included New GPC, Health 2000 and Chirosyn Discovery.
The Minister of Public Health said that other companies were not a part of this process due to ongoing investigations into their late/or non-delivery of critical drugs during 2016, which they were contracted to procure for GPHC. She said that some of these pharmaceuticals were overdue by as much as six months, which exacerbated the drug shortage at the hospital.
To this end, she explained that moves were made to fast track the procurement of these pharmaceuticals to minimize the negative effects on patients due to the shortage of some critical drugs.
“This influenced the decision to seek the green light from the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) for ANSA McAL to supply drugs and pharmaceuticals to the tune of some $605M.”
Lawrence explained that ANSA McAL is one of only two companies in Guyana that is able to provide the cold chain storage necessary to maintain the integrity of a wide range of pharmaceuticals that are critical in the health care sector, in Guyana.
“ANSA not only air freighted the drugs (this helped spike the cost to import the items) for the public health sector, but also donated four refrigerators to GPHC to store the emergency supplies at the internationally acceptable temperature of 20 to 80C. No other company in the history of the institution has provided cold storage facilities at the hospital, even though at least one of them (New GPC) was the sole supplier of pharmaceuticals to the institution for over 20 years.”
Lawrence said that all pharmaceuticals for the entire nation was sole-sourced from that company for billions of tax-payers’ dollars. During that period, she said, GPHC used icepacks to store these sensitive drugs at the facility, because the main refrigerator was in poor condition and unable to maintain the correct temperature for these drugs endangering their efficacy, potency and integrity.
Lawrence stressed that she was unwilling to jeopardize the sector and patients’ lives and took what may appear to be the now-controversial route.