GPHC corrects misleading KN hydroclave article

The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has responded to an article on the hydroclave project, saying that it was not involved in the procurement of the machine, and also corrected a number of inaccuracies in the newspaper’s report.

In a statement on Wednesday referencing a Kaieteur News article on Sunday captioned “Huge difference in cost – quotation from the same company shows almost half the price”, the GPHC said that it was not involved in the procurement of the machine.

“The procurement was in fact handled by the Health Sector Development Unit – Ministry of Health. Furthermore, the GPHC is willing to supply the information that was submitted and approved by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). In addition, contrary to the statement that the invitation for bids was not advertised locally, the GPHC can prove that it was indeed advertised on Sunday, April 27, 2008, Sunday, May 4, 2008 and Wednesday, May 7, 2008 respectively, via the Guyana Chronicle and the Kaieteur Newspapers.”

The statement added that the bids were also advertised internationally on April 23, 2008 on the United Nations Development Business online and dg Market websites. Further, a total of seven potential bidders purchased documents, namely: Meditrion Scientific Sale, Cevons Waste Management, International Pharmaceutical Agency, Johs Gram- Hanssen A/ s, Seen Environment – Export Division, Morse Archer c/ o Bondtech and Dax Contracting Services. However, only two of the seven companies responded. They were Johs Gram-Hanssen A/ s and Seen Environment – Export Division.

Additionally, the GPHC said the contract was subsequently awarded to Johs Grams and SEEN Environment on September, 19, 2008 based on this recommendation.

On September 29, 2008, SEEN Environment was notified by way of letter of the award. However, the contractual obligation with them was terminated on January 22, 2009 due to their long delay in signing the contract. Further, recommendations were made to award the entire tender to Johs Grams as per the following breakdown: “The GPHC wishes to emphasise that this was a World Bank HIV/ AIDS project – Grant Number: H – 079- GUA, Health Waste Management Supply and Delivery of Health Waste Equipment. Hence, approval was given from the World Bank to proceed. The GPHC will furthermore respond to the article written on Monday, April 9, 2012 captioned ‘Hydroclave system cost begs for serious query…’ in a subsequent release.”