NEW GPC boss sets the record straight on procurement of malarial drugs

– Slams media, politicians for deliberately spreading inaccuracies

In light of the intervention of politicians Joseph Harmon of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Khemraj Ramjattan of Alliance For Change (AFC) into the report on bids for the supply of anti-malarial drugs, subsequent to those of the Stabroek News (SN) and Kaieteur News (KN), Dr Ranjisinghi Ramroop, chairman of the New GPC INC has issued the following statement:
“I believe that the issue of the supply of pharmaceuticals to Guyana’s health sector is too important for it to be turned into political football. Our company, the Guyana Pharmaceutical Company Inc (NEW GPC INC) has been the main suppliers of pharmaceuticals to the government for close to 100 years, and we take our responsibility seriously.”
Reporter,
editors, politicians
“The newspapers, Stabroek News and the Kaieteur News, have deliberately obfuscated the issue by stating that I took exception at the SN’s reporter contacting me. This is not so. I took exception to the reporter’s questions which betrayed either an abysmal ignorance of the functioning of government’s procurement/bidding process or a studied insistence in undermining the same.

The editors-in-chief of the newspapers, Messrs Anand Persaud and Adam Harris, in their subsequent interventions sadly did not veer from the reporter’s folly or mischief. And now, we unfortunately but predictably have the politicians Mr Joseph Harmon of the APNU and Mr Khemraj Ramjattan of the AFC following in their footsteps.”
The procurement/
bidding process
“The KN pontificated on and criticised ‘government’s insistence to purchase drugs using highly controversial methods and pre-qualification as the system for procurement’. Whatever might be the merits or demerits of pre-qualification of bidders; this was not relevant in the instant case of bidding to supply anti-malarial drugs.
On the procurement website and in the Guyana Chronicle, the Invitation for Bids (IFB) stated clearly that it was open to all ‘eligible and qualified bidders’. Two companies responded to the IFB – NEW GPC INC and IPA. Mr Harmon dubbed the difference in the two bids ‘a public scandal’ and hinted at ‘insider’s knowledge’.
He said: ‘What I rather suspect is that the newspapers, Kaieteur News and Stabroek News were just trying to determine whether the bidding price was correct.’ But Harmon is both incorrect and disingenuous. He, the SN reporter, and KN’s subsequent report were not asking about NEW GPC INC price – of which we can obviously provide full details. They were asking, as KN reported, for an ‘explanation about the difference’ between the two bids –which demands knowledge of the details of the other bid.
Mr Harmon’s slip about ‘insider’s knowledge’ let the cat out of the bag as I had surmised from the beginning with the SN reporter. The SN wanted to entrap me to say that I had knowledge of IPA’s bid.
This is what I objected to as a devious attempt to subvert the bidding process. His intervention, specious and flawed as it was, attempted to buttress his allegations with speculation.

hen Mr Ramjattan, in his usual crude and crass tradition of monkey see, monkey do, just shouted that ‘lawlessness’ was afoot. How does one address such ignorance?”
International standards
“There is an issue that transcends this particular bid, and I am very troubled that individuals with access to informing the public on such an important matter as malaria treatment are simply playing politics. They are playing with lives. With the explosion of gold and other mining activities in the interior, anti-malarials are crucial to the health of a growing segment of our population.
There have been two studies published earlier this year by Malaria Journal that emphasise the use of fake or expired drugs in our non-governmental commercial sector.
These lead to deaths. Since 2004, Guyana, in conjunction with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), announced that, rather than play with the lives of Guyanese citizens, they would be using Coartem  to combat malaria.
This is a fixed combination of two drugs (Artemether and Lumefantrine) as an anti- malaria therapy for acute, uncomplicated falciparum malaria.

The manufacturers of the drug are Novartis (Novartis Pharma Limited). Co-artem is used in conjunction with primaquine.
At the time, Guyana was only the second country in the Americas to adopt this line of treatment. The NEW GPC INC is authorised by Novartis to distribute Co-artem, along with ANSA McAl.
On October 19, a study on the therapeutic efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine for Plasmodium vivax infections in a prospective study in Guyana was published by the international Malaria Journal.
It concluded: ‘In Guyana, artemether- lumefantrine (Co-artem) represents an adequate treatment option against P Vivax when combined with primaquine. Availability of this alternative will be of great importance in case of emerging chloroquine resistance against P Vivax.’
It is our hope that the government of Guyana, along with all well-meaning Guyanese, would insist that our Tender Board Evaluation Committee, including officials of the Ministry of Health, ensure that no counterfeit, substandard drugs are allowed into the official channels to join the 58 per cent in the commercial sector as reported by Malaria Journal in August.
The Ministry of Health has long acknowledged that malaria is a serious public health threat and the ministry has partnered with numerous international agencies, such as PAHO, in the fight against this disease. Guyana and PAHO were able to successfully work out treatment modules, and this includes the purchase of “tried and tested” medication, which is expensive.
On the question of the bid, we await the completion of the evaluation process to determine what exactly caused such a difference between the two submissions.”