Multi-million Kina worth of medical kits left in storage for past five months

News that matter in Papua New Guinea

Multi-million Kina worth of medical kits left in storage for past five months

PORT MORESBY: Multi-million-Kina worth of medical kits have been left lying in storage in the past five months although the distribution contract was awarded in July.

Health and HIV/AIDSA Minister Dr Lino Tom said the drug supply issue was not the fault of the Health Department but the National Procurement Commission (NPC) “which is not doing what its is supposed to do”.

He accused the NPC of awarding contracts to companies which lacked the capacity to distribute.

The news break was reported by The National:

Medicines rotting

November 17, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By REBECCA KUKU
THE 100 per cent medical kits have been rotting away in storage in the past five months although the distribution contract was awarded in July, says Health and HIV/AIDS Minister Dr Lino Tom.
He said the drug supply issue was not the fault of the health department but the National Procurement Commission (NPC) “which is not doing what it is supposed to do”.
He accused the NPC of awarding contracts to companies which lacked the capacity to distribute.
But the NPC chief executive officer Simon Bole said the delay had nothing to do with the commission.
“The NPCs role in the procurement ends when the contract is signed,” he said.
The four contracts, worth K33 million, for the distribution of the 100 percent medical kits, were awarded on July 22 at the NPC to:

  • NEW Guinea Islands– Trans Hire for K7 million;
  • MOMASE – LD Logistics for K9 million;
  • HIGHLANDS – South Pacific Pharmacies for K9 million; and,
  • SOUTHERN – Express Customs Ltd for K8.1 million.

Bole explained that the procurement was done by a technical evaluation team headed by the department which went through the applications and recommended three contractors to the board.
The board decides who to award the contracts to.
“The committee and the board are two independent boards. I am not part of the committee or the board,” he said.
“Once the board awards the contracts, NPC draws up the contracts and that is where our job ends.”
Bole said that after the contracts were awarded, the Health Department requested Express Customs Ltd and Trans Hire to deposit a 20 per cent guarantee into their account before they could release the mobilisation fee.
“This, however, did not apply to the other two contractors,” he said.
“So the two companies brought their Southern Cross Insurance Security Certificate (which the Health Department) refused to accept.
“It said that the contracts must be removed and given to other companies, and that they will seek advice from the solicitor’s office.”
Bole said if the Health Department wanted to do that, “it will go back to the board to decide”.
Meanwhile, a supplier which procured the 100 per cent medical kits said it became concerned because the kits were kept in containers in the open for five months after being moved out of their ventilated warehouse.
It reminded the Health Department 10 times in the past five months that the kits were yet to be delivered to health facilities.
But the supplying firm never got any reply from the department regarding the drugs.


Minister blames system

November 17, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By LULU MARK
HEALTH and HIV/AIDS Minister Dr Lino Tom has blamed the current procurement system, rather than the Health Department, for the drug supply problems.
“No, it’s not the Health Department’s fault,” he said.
“I have seen snapshots of newspaper cuttings sent to me all the time and it seems (that) the National Procurement Commission (NPC) and the drug companies (are blaming) the Health Department.
“We have NPC that is not doing its work properly.
“It’s giving contracts to people who don’t have the capacity.”
Dr Tom said the current procurement system had “a lot of bottlenecks”.
“We will try to establish our whole procurement system within the health department because time is of the essence,” he said. “We can’t wait for people to go around and give a contract that needs to go out.
“We can’t allow them to keep that contract on the table for more than six months. We have already been given green light by the Prime Minister (James Marape), and the threshold for procurement in the department has been increased.
“We will definitely bring in development partners on board to provide transparency, because transparency is what we need.”
Dr Tom said addressing the drug issues was one of the priorities in his 100-day plan.
The awarding of contracts for the procurement and distribution of medical supplies to contractors who lack the capacity to deliver “is being looked at”.
Health Secretary Dr Osborne Liko said the companies contracted to distribute the 100 per cent medical supply kits failed to do so.
“The two companies don’t have the capacity for storage, and the guarantee of their money to deliver were not part of the recommendations to the NPC,” he said.
“We wrote to the State Solicitor to put them off, and (replace them with) two companies that have the capacity.”


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