MEDICINES STILL SITTING IN PORT MORESBY WAREHOUSE

 

BUREAUCRATIC BUNGLING COSTING PEOPLE’S LIVES

 

BY GORETHY KENNETH

PAPUA New Guineans are dying in rural areas for the lack of very basic medicines.

The medicines needed to treat them are sitting in a warehouse in Port Moresby as a bureaucratic bungle results in contract paperwork not completed for selected distributors.

And more people will die because the K60 million worth of medical supplies for all provincial hospitals cannot be moved out for a further three months.

As these pictures detail, the medical kit supplies that were awarded late last year and have not been distributed because the contracts for the four regional suppliers have not been completed.

The Post-Courier was told yesterday when we visited the warehouse that these supplies will sit there for the next three months while the National Procurement Commission (NPC) and National Health Department (NDoH) battle it out to award the distribution contract.

The recent Public Accounts Committee Report on medical kits and supplies recommended that all health contracts K10 million and below should be fully awarded to PNG companies. 

The Post-Courier has been told yesterday the procurement and awarding process has also been delayed because several officers were pushing for a Chinese company from the Health Department for these distribution contracts.

It was reported this week that there was a huge weight that hospitals and remote clinics were now bearing because NDoH failed to put the bid out for pharmaceutical supplies for the country last year. This effectively meant there was no procurement system in place.

Health Secretary Dr Osbourne Liko defended yesterday that the problem was not the Health Department but that of the sector wide agencies that were part of the process and delaying the supply and distribution of these medical kits.

“By next week TEC should approve the tender for distribution of 100 percent kit and by end of April/ beginning of May 2022 we should have the 100 percent kit packed & ready to be distributed to our Districts, Health Centres and Aid Posts health Facilities,” Dr Liko said.

But the NPC boss Simon Bole also defended the Commission yesterday blaming the National Health Department, it’s technical team and officers for the delay in awarding of the medical supply contract and evaluation for almost eight months.

“The Department of Health is to be blamed for the delay. The Secretary seems to be not aware of his technical team non attendance at TFEC meetings. All agencies must make their business to follow up and present at all times to evaluate bid documents for your tenders. Also officers appointed as Technical members must attend meetings,” an irate Bole said.