$12.5M drug bond fiasco…Sub-committee’s excuses for continued use represent grave insult to the nation – Goolsarran
By Kiana Wilburg, Aug 23, 2016, , http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....e-nation-goolsarran/
The reasons being offered by a Cabinet sub-committee to justify the continued use of a controversial Sussex Street storage bond for drugs and other medical supplies has highly offended several anti-corruption activists.
Specifically, Chartered Accountant Anand Goolsarran insists that the team’s “excuses” represent “a grave insult to the intelligence of the nation”.
He said that given the controversy surrounding the drug bond which is owned by Lawrence Singh of Linden Holdings Inc., the excuses provided the three-man sub-committee were ludicrous.
The subcommittee, comprising Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, via its report, made it clear that the continued use of the Sussex Street bond is necessary even though an international report categorically states that the state-owned Diamond warehouse has the capacity to hold all of the nation’s drugs and more.
The sub-committee said it is not safe to have all of the nation’s drugs and medical supplies in one facility, in case of a fire or some natural disaster that can have calamitous consequences to the national health care system. The sub-committee stated too that the location of the Diamond warehouse can affect distribution of medical supplies, given traffic congestion issues that are associated with the East Bank thoroughfare.
Addressing the “ludicrous excuse” that the traffic congestion would affect the distribution process, Goolsarran said, “I refuse to accept this nonsensical excuse. The Georgetown Hospital, for example, does not operate like this. There is a stock management department which would know when the drugs are in short supply and when they need to be replenished, and they would not send in their order 10 minutes before it is needed, so I don’t know what they are talking about in this instance”
The Chartered Accountant said, too, that the failure of the subcommittee to address why a contract was awarded to a man who has no experience in the management of drugs and other pharmaceuticals is also troubling.
“This is exactly why cabinet members should not have reviewed the project. They are trying to exonerate the Minister of Health. These excuses are insulting to the nation.”
On the other hand, Prime Minister Nagamootoo said that the possibility of a fire and the issue of traffic congestion were just two of the many reasons considered for embracing the contract.
Nagamootoo noted that there was a visit to the Diamond facility and the Sussex Street bond. He said that committee members who visited the Sussex Street bond were satisfied that it was suitable for use as provided for under the contract. He said that the members recommended that the bond be used until the Government is able to build an alternative facility.
The Prime Minister said that when the Sussex Street bond proposal came to Cabinet initially, the issue of traffic congestion affecting the access to medical supplies at the Diamond facility was not raised. He said that it might be used as a rationalization for the continued use of the Sussex Street bond.
Nagamootoo said what was advanced was the necessity of a new site , consequent upon the demand of New GPC for Government to either pay a rent for the facilities or take its drugs elsewhere.
The Prime Minister said that when Government made it clear that the New GPC was not going to be enjoying sole sourced contracts anymore and that “an era of competitiveness” is what is going to take over, “we were basically told to take our drugs and get lost.”
Nagamootoo was then asked if this was the case, then why not store the drugs at the Diamond facility which, according to an international report, has the capacity to store all of the nation’s drugs and even more.
The Prime Minister said however that he could not comment on this.
Nagamootoo explained that he did not visit the facility. He made it clear that it was Trotman who visited the facility and was the one chairing the committee. The Prime Minister emphasized that he was just a member of the team.
“When the team visited, they reported that the Diamond facility was encumbered and that it couldn’t accommodate the additional stocks. But I have since seen another report in the newspaper saying that the bond has space to accommodate 2,300 pallets and the bond was only utilizing under 1,600. If that is the case, then in spite of the contract being signed, it should not rule out a forensic scrutiny at Diamond facility…I would not rule out reassessment of the facility at Diamond.”
Nagamootoo was also asked why the sub-committee did not address the fact that a contract was given to someone who is inexperienced in the storage of drugs and pharmaceuticals. He said however that Government is not renting the contractor but the facility.
