…NEW GPC maintains performance exemplary versus other suppliers’

The principals of the NEW GPC INC have strongly refuted the publication of a Kaieteur News article in its Wednesday edition which they say are riddled with “lies, misinformation and half-truths” about the shipment, procurement and guarantee of pharmaceuticals and supplies.

The Kaieteur News article claimed that the “NEW GPC and others must deliver over Gy$600M owed for drugs or else,” purporting to summarise the views of Public Health Minister, Dr George Norton on the subject of “undelivered drugs”.

The newspaper claimed that the Minister “has already alerted the Chambers of Attorney General Basil Williams on the need to take this matter before the court and to send a strong message to “appalling” defaulters like NEW GPC”.

In view of the importance of pharma supply to the well-being of the nation, and the 180 persons the corporation employs, the Guyana Times International called the New GPC for a comment and it refuted in total, the claims of the Kaieteur News.

A senior official there pointed out that the Kaieteur News was basing its sensationalisation of the issue by referring to the Auditor General Report of 2014.

“At the moment NGPC is only servicing contracts for [Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation/Ministry of Health] GPHC/MOH for 2015. Contracts for 2014 and all earlier years have been duly completed. There is no truth to this KN report,” the official said exasperatedly.

He continued, “Both MOH and GPHC owe NGPC monies. MOH has debts going back as far as 2008 for items delivered….”

On the specifics of the article in reference to banking guarantees and deliveries, the official referred the newspaper to its press release of June, pertinent portions of which are excerpted below.

“The NEW GPC has never defaulted on any of its contracts to the MoH and GPHC”.

In reference, to purchases by the GPHC, the report itself stated that there were Banking Guarantees to the tune of Gy$500 million against the major contract for Gy$871.169 million of which Gy$716.290 million was paid.

The Gy$500 million was thus obviously more than adequate to protect the contract since at the end, according to the Auditor General Report, there is only Gy$2.982 million (0.003% of the contract) of supplies to be delivered. It meant that at no time there was need for the full amount of the contract to be guaranteed.

What is interesting, however, is that of the nine other suppliers including the International Pharmaceutical Agency (IPA) and PAHO, (which the KN studiously avoided mentioning) responsible for 423 purchases, there was only a SINGLE Banking Guarantee of Gy$71 million.

Deliveries

More alarmingly, Gy$192 million (or 45 per cent) of the items ordered from the nine other suppliers, including IPA, was not delivered. For NEW GPC the figures are 13 per cent which can be explained by the AGR’s reference to the New GPC warehouse as the “Ruimveldt offsite” and insists on storing its stocks there although MOH/GPHC are constantly reminded to remove.

This is ironic since the year before the Government at great expense had constructed a warehouse at Diamond and no pharmaceuticals were to be left at NEW GPC’s warehouse.

At that time, the NEW GPC had called for all of the Government’s pharmaceuticals to be removed from its facilities, since THESE WERE BEING STORED AT ABSOLUTELY NO COST.

Against the foregoing, Guyana Times International called on Minister Norton to ascertain whether he had in fact described NEW GPC’s performance as “appalling” when it appeared to be exemplary as compared to the other suppliers. Dr Norton, unfortunately was said to be out of the country.