Measures in place to prevent future emergency drugs procurement

Nov 20, 2017 News

---

 

– New GPHC CEO

Emergency procurements of drugs at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation [GPHC] will be a thing of the past. At least this is according to Brigadier George Lewis, the hospital’s Chief Executive Officer [CEO].
Lewis was in June appointed Deputy CEO at the hospital but from all indications has been formally elevated to the capacity of CEO.
It was just about one week after Lewis was named DCEO that the hospital announced that Lewis would act as CEO since the then acting CEO, Mr Allan Johnson, was being removed from the position because of an emergency procurement of drugs which was found to be in breach of the Procurement Act.
No statement was sent out informing that Lewis was elevated to CEO. However, this past week this publication learnt that his former position [DCEO] was quietly filled by one Ms. Elizabeth Gonsalves who reportedly has decades of experience working in the health sector.
Having taken his place at the helm of the hospital, Lewis said that he is not prepared to see a repeat of any procurement that will bring the hospital into disrepute.
Regarding the investigation and recommendations of the Public Procurement Commission [PPC], which was tasked with probing the emergency procurement, Lewis said the hospital has already separated its finance and stores system with the creation of a Procurement Department.
“That was one of the major recommendations and it has been implemented,” said Lewis as he revealed that the hospital is currently looking at the establishment of its own Tender Board.
He disclosed that moves have already been made to write to the Ministry of Finance seeking to establish that Tender Board even as efforts are made to examine the hospital’s stores system and develop what is called a Board of Survey, which is responsible for the disposal of unserviceable items.
“Basically what we have done is to tighten up our procurement system to try to make all of our officials and workers more accountable,” Lewis said.

As part of its efforts to avoid future emergency procurements, Lewis said that the hospital has already started to solicit the services of suppliers, by way of advertisements, for the provision of drugs for 2018.
“We are ahead of the curve, we are ready, we have done our quantification; as a result, we have initiated what is usually a lengthy process so by early January 2018, we should have approval for drugs, pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for 2018. So I do not anticipate that we will have a problem because we have initiated the process for what we will need for next year,” Lewis asserted.
The emergency procurement, which warranted that various measures be implemented, was for some $631 million worth of pharmaceuticals. Some factions were convinced that the emergency was an orchestrated ploy initiated by Public Health Minister, Ms. Volda Lawrence, to the benefit of the main supplier – Ansa McAl. Ansa McAl was required to supply just over $600 million of the needed drugs. Three other supplies provided the remaining quantity.
Red flags were raised regarding the procurement, since the Procurement Act stipulates that any contract beyond the sum of $15 million must go through the National Procurment and Tender Administration Board [NPTAB], which then forwards it to Cabinet for review and approval.
Although the emergency was found to be legitimate, evidence suggest that due process was not followed.
In its own investigation, the Ms. Kesaundra Alves- headed hospital board found that the former Acting CEO [Johnson] had written to NPTAB seeking approval for the contracts, after GPHC had begun to receive pharmaceuticals from the suppliers.
Coming out from the PPC investigation was that Minister Lawrence was not to be blamed for the procurement. It was however concluded that although the Minister of Public Health is responsible for policy-related matters, the Minister should not be involved in administrative or operational issues, since this is the responsibility of the hospital’s board.
The PPC also noted that “agencies such as the GPHC should be closely monitored to ensure that tender documents are handled with strict security and confidentiality.”
Added to this, the PPC outlined that the practice of documents being moved around to evaluators’ offices by various personnel should cease immediately. Further, it has recommended that the time-frame set out in the Act for completion of the tender evaluation should be strictly observed as far as is practicable.
The Public Procurement Commission (PPC), in a report of its findings, pointed out that the GPHC has itself been operating an Agency Tender Board without the approval or input of NPTAB, and this should be addressed urgently, so that this breach ceases. For this reason, the PPC has proposed that “NPTAB should take the required steps to establish an agency tender board that includes representation from the GPHC Board.”
In addition, the PPC has been able to outline that “in view of the specialised nature of the needs of the GPHC, the procurement thresholds of expenditure applicable to the GPHC should be reviewed with the objective of improving efficiency and reducing the need for the entity to make numerous ad hoc purchases, which may breach the Procurement Act.”
Based on the findings of its investigation, the PPC concluded that in order to prevent future breach of the Procurement Act, the GPHC, among other things, must execute all procurement transactions in accordance with the Procurement Act. As such, the GPHC has been urged to “establish appropriate systems to avoid reoccurrences of breaches such as contract splitting and use of procurement methods which are not supported by the Act.”
Another interesting recommendation of the PPC is that the GPHC should take appropriate steps to separate Procurement from Finance, in keeping with best practices for these functions.
The PPC has therefore suggested that the procurement staff be appropriately qualified and regularly trained in current procurement procedures. It has also been proposed that the pharmacy staff responsible for forecasting the needs of the GPHC should be equipped with the appropriate tools and systems to ensure that the Procurement Department is provided with accurate, timely and relevant information.
This, according to the PPC, will ensure that procurement activities are appropriately structured and conducted in accordance with the Act.
It is also required th

---

---