$605M drug purchase…
Former GPHC CEO Alan Johnson
Former GPHC CEO Alan Johnson

GPHC duo fingered

…Health Ministry probe finds alleged collusion
AS THE investigation deepens into the controversial procurement of the more than $605M

Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence

worth of emergency drugs by the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), top sources at the Ministry of Public Health has said that it was the hospital’s then Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Alan Johnson, and the Finance Director, Ronald Charles, who teamed up to sole source the drugs against the advice of senior hospital officials.
Johnson was fired earlier this month by GPHC Board of Directors following “a series of lapses,” which included the embarrassment of the Corporation before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on May 29.

On Monday, a top source at the Ministry of Public Health told the Guyana Chronicle that following a meeting with the Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence in early February, during which the shortages of drugs were confirmed, the hospital’s Finance Director was summoned to a meeting by one of his

GPHC Finance Director Ronald Charles

superiors. It is alleged, that during the meeting, Charles was instructed to meet with Berkley Wickham, Chairman of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) and explain the need for the fast- tracking of the Pharmaceutical Emergency Supplies.

The senior hospital official, the source said, also needed clarity on whether there were provisions within the National Procurement and Tendering System for an addition to be made to the original bid document, given the fact that the suppliers had already bought the original document.

Additionally, the source said, Charles was constantly told by the senior official to proceed with the Emergency Supplies Bids in the “name of transparency, warning him, that any attempt to obstruct the process by annulment would cause ‘eyebrows to raise.’
But the pleas by the senior hospital official, the source contended, fell on deaf ears.

PPP MP, Anil Nandlall

“Unknowingly to his superior, Charles cancelled the bid and requested, as a matter of emergency that the drugs be sole-sourced. And, he had the backing of Johnson,” the ministry source maintained.

It is alleged that the Finance Director wrote the NPTAB Chairman requesting that the Emergency Supplies Bid Document be cancelled. In that letter, which was allegedly signed by the then CEO, Charles sought to have the emergency drugs sole sourced.

Decline to sign
Charles, Guyana Chronicle was told, proceeded to compile a list of the critical drugs which was subsequently given to four suppliers: Ana McAl, New GPC, Health2000 and Chirosyn Discoveries, for the submission of quotations based on the document. Attempts, the source said, were made to have Minister Lawrence sign off on the documents but she had reportedly declined noting that there was an established system to be followed.

“It was the CEO who had prepared the letters for the four suppliers, telling them to proceed with the process,” the source pointed out.
According to the source, it was after the drugs were delivered at the end of February that a letter was sent to the NPTAB requesting that payments be made to the four suppliers.

Never the case
Contrary to earlier reports that the procurement sum was just over $605M, the source disclosed that Ansa McAl alone supplied $605.9M Pharmaceutical supplies while New GPC delivered $20.8M in drugs. The two other companies, supplied just over $5M in medical supplies.

The NPTAB Chairman was reportedly told that it was Minister Lawrence who had granted approval, but according to the source, that was never the case. The source noted that while Minister Lawrence had authorised the “Emergency Pharmaceutical Supplies” procurement, at no point did she specify the method to be employed.
Minister Lawrence appeared before the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) last Friday and denied approving the purchase of the drugs. After repeatedly being told by the GPHC administration that there was no shortage of drugs, Minister Lawrence reportedly told the PPC that the hospital officials, under pressure, confirmed that there was a shortage of over 200 drugs and medical supplies.

She reportedly queried whether there was a system in place for the acquisition of the critical drugs on an emergency basis and was told “yes”. Minister Lawrence reportedly told the PPC that she advised the Administration to utilise the necessary system to remedy the situation in the shortest possible time. The Public Health Minister is maintaining that she “never signed any document” but it was Johnson who had written NPTAB contending that he had gotten approval from her.

When contacted on Monday, GPHC Finance Director declined to comment on the issue, saying that the hospital’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Mitzy Campbell be contacted. “I am not allowed to answer,” Charles said, while noting that the information implicating him in the controversy was “interesting.” This newspaper was unable to make contact with the PRO.
Johnson, the hospital’s former CEO, told this newspaper that he had no comments. “Whatever was said let it be said. I don’t wish to make a comment,” Johnson said after being pressed for a response.

Criminal probe
Former Attorney General (AG), Anil Nandlall, however, did not buy the argument put forward by the Public Health Minister when she appeared before the PPC. “If what the Chronicle published is the truth, then the Minister deliberately and calculatedly misled the PPC, last Friday. At a minimum, the statements attributed to her starkly contradict an earlier “Public Statement” issued by her own Ministry,” Nandlall said in a statement on Monday.
He pointed out that in a public statement issued by the Public Health Ministry on March 11, 2017, the Minister admitted to fast-tracking the process.

“To this end, she sought to fast-track the procurement of these pharmaceuticals to minimise the negative effects on patients, due to the shortage of some critical drugs. This influenced the decision to seek the greenlight from the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) for ANSA McAL to supply drugs and pharmaceuticals to the tune of some G$605M,” the Opposition MP stated, while alluding to the press statement.
Given the circumstances, Nandlall is contending that a criminal investigation be launched into the procurement of the more than $605M in drugs. “I call on the Commissioner of Police (COP) and the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) to, immediately launch an investigation into this matter. After all, this transaction involves the misuse or unlawful use of $605M of public monies.”

He is maintaining that there were mutiple breeches of, inter alia, the Procurement Act, the Public Corporation Act and the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act.

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