– rubbishes another sick Kaieteur News headline
The Kaieteur News (KN) headline on Wednesday “NEW GPC still to supply drugs four years after collecting money – AG Report” was yet another piece of disjointed rubbish that, unsurprisingly, does not agree with the contents of the report, written by Abena Rockcliffe.
In a press statement released in response to the article, NEW GPC said categorically that the company has fulfilled all of its obligations to the Health Ministry for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010.
The statement said the relevant contracts have been duly reconciled and confirmed with the ministry, and this information is available to the Auditor General (AG)’s Office in the event the ministry is unable to furnish same.
The KN report stated that “the MOH (Ministry of Health) was in 2010 unable to provide receipts to prove it collected Gy$30 million worth of drugs and medical supplies…” and that “the balance of Gy$222.526 million for 2008 and 2009 was still to be reconciled by the ministry.”
False headline
NEW GPC noted that aside from displaying a lack of understanding of the AG’s Report, the Kaieteur News headline is patently false. “Considering that the MOH had a fire in 2009 and lost some of its records, and this event was fully covered in the press, this obviously does not translate to NEW GPC failing to deliver as the headline clearly stated,” said the release.
The statement asserted that Kaieteur News is no ordinary outfit when it comes to generating and publishing rubbish once it could do harm to NEW GPC or anything remotely connected to its Chief Executive Officer Dr Ranjisinghi Ramroop. It noted that, in this case, Kaieteur News is also promoting the interests of one of its owners’ friends, whose company abysmally failed in its bid to become a MOH prequalified bidder.
NEW GPC, along with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the International Dispensary Association, MedPharm and the United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are the entities prequalified to supply pharmaceuticals to the ministry. Under the prequalification process, companies have to pass stringent requirements, including warehousing capacity, quality control and financial capacity.
This means that price is only one of several other considerations within the overall procurement framework. Historically, NEW GPC has always provided, at no cost, cold storage, air-conditioned storage, secure storage for controlled substances, storage for hazardous substances, and a number of other logistical services to MOH and the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), as both have limited capacity.
“Our company also handles items that other companies would baulk from supplying and low volume products, which are considered unfeasible. Instead of being thanked, NEW GPC is often berated for its contribution and support to the MOH and GPHC and we hope that, in the future, these entities will be more proactive in defending their purchases and pay more attention to the audit requirements of the AG’s Office,” the statement added.
NEW GPC
All entities are offered the opportunity to become part of the prequalified group, but if they fail to meet the requirements set, there can be no compromise in certain areas which are critical to safeguarding the nation’s health.
