-says President Ali

SINCE assuming office in August 2020, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government has dumped approximately $11 billion worth of expired medical, diagnostic and laboratory supplies that were purchased under the previous A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration.

However, as a result of a massive effort to remedy the situation, the public health system is now well stocked with at least 97 per cent of all essential drugs, according to President Dr. Irfaan Ali.

At a press conference on Friday in New York, the Head of State reflected that while the dumping of billions of dollars’ worth of supplies were being facilitated, the public health system was kept afloat with a very minimal supply of essential medication.

“The entire healthcare system had less than 10 per cent of all the drugs that were needed,” President Ali emphasised, as he pointed to several areas that have seen massive investments over the past year.

When the PPP/C government took office, Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony ordered a comprehensive audit to help inform a gap analysis of the drug shortage across the country. Among other things, the audit found that many of the drugs and other supplies were close to their expiration dates when they were bought. Added to that, the defunct Management Information System (MIS) at the Materials Management Unit contributed to an extended lull in the distribution process.

In 2020, shortly after discarding some 300 truckloads of expired drugs from its Materials Management Unit (MMU) and other health facilities, the Ministry of Health initiated a comprehensive $12 billion effort to restock and revive the public health sector, which it described as one of the most neglected sectors under the previous administration.

Dr. Anthony had also said that the situation with the expired drugs led to cases such as the infamous drug-bond scandal, which saw former APNU+AFC health minister Dr. George Norton being charged for allegedly renting a Sussex Street, Georgetown bond for three years, at a monthly cost of a whopping $12.5 million.

“Because the bond was cluttered, the previous government resorted to renting bond space. So, by clearing out expired drugs, we have now been able to make more space available,” Dr. Anthony said in a related interview with the government’s Department of Public Information.

While the drug-bond fiasco remains at the level of the court, Minister Anthony said that the “fixable” issues were dealt with by the Dr. Ali-led government; mechanisms, he said, were put in place to remedy the previously defunct modern warehouse Management Information System and install pharmaceutical monitors in each administrative region to reduce future shortages.

Going forward, Dr. Anthony had said that focus would be placed on computerising the entire medical distribution system, so as to ensure that efficient monitoring and management can be done in real time. To further strengthen the capacity, the government in its 2021 national budget of $383.1 billion allocated some $53.5 billion towards the health sector.

While a provision of over $750 million was directed to the national vaccination effort, some $1.8 billion was also budgeted for expansion of the country’s diagnostic and speciality capacities. The government also included $322 million to procure medical equipment, including ventilators and anaesthesia machines for the national referral hospital, the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

Additionally, $35 million was plugged into boosting the Emergency Medical Services, while a holistic plan is being developed to introduce an ambulance authority.

Moreover, some $2.8 billion was allocated for the modernisation and expansion of physical infrastructure, which will cover the continued implementation of the $860 million SMART Hospital initiative which was initiated with five facilities – the Leonora Hospital, the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, the Mabaruma Hospital, as well as the Lethem and Paramakatoi Hospitals.