Too high …President knocks New GPC for jacking up bond fees for drug storage
President David Granger
President David Granger

THE move by the government to award a multimillion-dollar contract to store pharmaceuticals to a company in the city was undertaken out of necessity, and President David Granger said nothing perverse was done in the process.The President was on Thursday speaking on the weekly television programme the Public Interest.
The Guyanese leader noted that the “punitive” nature in which the New GPC increased its fees as a result of the termination of the single-sourcing , led to another company Linden Holdings Company, being awarded the contract. The issue flared in the National Assembly this week when Health Minister Dr George Norton was grilled by Opposition parliamentarians Monday in the Parliamentary Committee of Supply. Norton said on Monday that the space was being rented from Linden Holding Company, which is registered at 176 Middle Street, Georgetown, and has the storage bond at Sussex Street, Georgetown. He said that $25 million was paid as rental and a security deposit for the month of July. He also said that the bond was certified by an agency of his ministry. However, investigations by the local media found that the bond is incomplete.
Dr Norton had to report to Cabinet on Tuesday, the Ministry of the Presidency subsequently stated.
A sub-committee appointed by the President met Tuesday at the Office of the Prime Minister and was provided with “an extensive and detailed brief with regard to the issues, needs and challenges related to the storage of medicine and medical supplies.”
Speaking on the issue on Thursday, the President related that the Ministry of Public Health attempted to avoid the pitfalls of the processes which prevailed under the previous administration in which a “single corporation “benefited from single-sourcing, a reference made to the New GPC Inc. “They created a huge bond because that corporation had more or less expected the government will always buy from them”, he said. He said that the entity tried to charge the current government, but the monies were found impossible to pay.” It was almost punitive,” the President said.
He said the Ministry of Public Health subsequently sought to find a new bond. “The government had to think about timings, the short-term storage of drugs,“ he said. He said the entire process was driven by necessity and “not by any sort of perversity,“ adding that the old arrangement of single-sourcing had been criticised and brought to an end.
The President has since ordered an investigation into revelations that $25 million was handed over to Linden Holdings to provide storage space for pharmaceutical drugs when in fact the bond is yet to be completed and certified. The Head of State appointed a Cabinet sub-committee to review, examine and report on the issue. Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Raphael Trotman, has been appointed to chair the sub-committee and it includes Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and Minister of State, Joseph Harmon.
Meanwhile, in a statement on Wednesday, the New GPC said that the fact is it has been storing pharmaceuticals at its warehouse free of charge to the Government for more than a decade up to March 1st 2016. According to the corporation, it had invested hundreds of millions into the most extensive and modern warehousing facility for the Government’s pharmaceuticals. “The NEW GPC storage warehouse facility of 70,000 square feet had been provided free of cost to the GHPC and the Ministry of Health. It has the necessary equipment, staff, IT, security, certification and sanitation to comply with WHO/PAHO standards. The facility also 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. It also has testing facilities for pharmaceuticals as well as several loading docks to handle the multiple containers that are usual in the government procurement shipment.”

SUBSTANTIAL ALTERATIONS
According to the company, after the Ministry of Public Health indicated a substantive and substantial alterations in the old bidding procedure for pharmaceuticals on March 1, 2016, they approached the NEW GPC to continue providing storage for pharmaceuticals for the Ministry of Public Health and the GPHC. At that point, the corporation indicated it would charge the government a rate of $237/sq foot for the state-of-the-art storage facility. At this time, contrary to the asseverations of the minister in Parliament, the NEW GPC has not received a single cent from the government for the rental due since March 1, 2016, even though there are substantial quantities of pharmaceuticals being stored in the warehouse. “There have also been references attributed to Government officials about a “previous” rental agreement. This is totally false: NEW GPC has always provided its warehouse free of charge. The NEW GPC, as a professional company that prides itself as one of the most modern in its field in the Caribbean, simply wishes to clarify the false and ambitious statements being circulated.”

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