GOVERNMENT has made significant investments in the new Materials Management Unit at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, which is much more efficient and effective in storing medical drugs.

Members of the media were taken on a tour of the facility yesterday, along with the Minister of Health, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran.
According to Minister Ramsaran, the warehouse is meeting international standards, and he noted that it may be the largest of its kind in the Caribbean. The new facility, which is slated to be commissioned soon, is electronically managed and has all the prerequisites, including controlled temperature and fire response mechanisms such as smoke detectors and sprinklers.
Additionally, there is the correct flow/traffic of how goods are taken in, checked for quality and storage. The minister explained that the principle is to have minimal storage time in distribution of the drugs to the health facilities.
It is manned by a trained cadre of personnel who were taught to use the innovative and sophisticated computerised data system.
The new bond is 26,691 feet of active storage and consists of modern racks and refrigeration applications which cater for products such as vaccines and insulin. Forklifts are used to remove items stored on the higher levels of the racks.
With regard to funding, Minister Ramsaran noted that the realisation of the bond is due to contributions by donor agencies which gave a total of about $375M, coupled with the Government of Guyana’s contribution of $120M.
While at the bond, the minister responded to questions posed regarding the health sector’s payment for storage space made available by the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation (GPC).
Minister Ramsaran stated that the government undertook to build the new facility because when the present administration took office in 1992, it inherited an old building at Mud Flats in Kingston which did not have air conditioning, was ridden with rodents, and dusty. Such an environment was not appropriate for storage of drugs since its potency would have been destroyed easily. Hence, the decision was taken to build the new bond.
Although the construction of the facility began in 2009, negotiations started many years before; subsequently, USAID and other donor agencies decided to respond to the plea for assistance and mobilised funds.
This included funds for SCMS – Supply Chain Management Systems based in South Africa, which is among the best in warehouse management of medical supplies.
“While building the facility, we still needed to provide services – to provide services you want to have your drugs efficiently and effectively stored, therefore SCMS also negotiated with a private sector local company to use facilities that that company had for its own pharmaceutical business, called the New GPC, which is our only indigenous, native, patriotic company producing drugs for local use and export,” the minister said.
Minister Ramsaran explained that SCMS, utilising USAID funds which are strictly monitored and the users of which are made accountable, rented the building for that purpose. The construction of the new MMU/bond in Diamond at the time was under way.
“But from time to time, as is so frequent in Guyana, there were delays in the delivery date; continuous issues with contractors who continuously pushed the dates back, so by June/July 2012, when SCMS indicated that they could no longer support the rent bill, we found ourselves in a situation whereby we did not have possession of a completed building,” the minister indicated.
He explained that in response to that peculiar situation, the government decided to accelerate the construction of the bond. While doing so, the government had to take over the payment of the monthly rent – which is just over $1M.
“So this is the picture- if we had been able to put ourselves in order, if we had been able to work more aggressively and work in a productive manner, we would have had the bond in time, and the SCMS extended time of paying rent would not have been passed on and extended to the Government of Guyana budget,” Minister Ramsaran highlighted.
The Health Ministry is still storing items at an off-site facility in Ruimveldt. That facility is also owned by the New GPC; however, no rent is being paid for its use. Medications from the Farm facility have already been relocated to the new bond in Diamond.
With regards to articles in the Kaiteur and Stabroek newspapers, the minister noted that there seems to be some fight between the two private sector entities for market shares, and the Health Ministry is getting collateral damage.
Minister Ramsaran indicated that much of the criticisms against the ministry are from the Auditor General’s Report which the current administration was instrumental in resurrecting.