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General News of Monday, February 11, 2019
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2019-02-11
Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Minister of Health
A policy think tank, the IMANI Center for Policy and Education, is calling for responses from the Minister of Health following a recent publication that says ineffective snake vaccines on the market have resulted in the deaths of ten people.
According to this article, a teacher from the West West District Hospital, in the Upper West region, was among the victims of the fatal incident.
According to the report, West West District Hospital authorities have also said they have not received Ghana's health snake vaccines for some time, forcing doctors to prescribe it to pharmacists in Wa.
"Hospital officials said that the 10 people who were part of the 50 people brought into the facility with snakebites had received some vaccines purchased from private pharmacies in the area but had died," told the article in part.
"L & # 39; anti-snake [vaccine] we used it was not very effective and we could use about 5 to 10 and the patient still could not improve, "said Dr. Benjamin Aminyuure, district hospital medical officer from Wa West.
In an open letter to Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, IMANI expressed concern over the "morbid fear that when essential drugs among all preventable barriers have finally been provided, they are of poor quality or fictitious. ".
A reputable think tank says the situation is worse when these fake drugs were bought by fraud, with official blessings. This seems to be the case with the acquisition of anti-snake serum by the Ministry of Health.
"We are sending you this letter asking you to clarify the following questions to the public.
"1. We have been informed that there is already an" International Call for Tenders "for the supply of 50,000 units of anti-snake serum in August 2018. We have read allegations regarding the participation of your Department of bid evaluation rigging and overly intrusive interventions in the bidding process What is your version of this account?
"2. We were informed that these allegations truncated the approvals you requested from the Central Tender Review Board and the APP. Both institutions have officially written to you not to proceed with the call for bids while waiting for their inquiries. What is the status of this call for public offers? Asked IMANI.
Read to see the six key questions asked by the Minister of Health about IMANI regarding possible violations of the ministry's procurement practices.
February 8, 2019
L & # 39; Hon. Kwaku Agyeman-Manu
Minister,
Ineffective anti-snake serum, procurement violations and public health safety concerns – SIX questions in search of answers.
Greetings. At IMANI, we were particularly impressed by the seriousness with which you attached to your government's commitment to pay the huge arrears owed to service providers of the National Health Insurance Authority. We hope that the odious political culture of diverting statutory revenues that would otherwise be automatically transferred to the health system has been permanently banned and that your legacy has been enviably recorded in the annals of our policies and care health.
We are also aware of your efforts to fill the inhumane gaps in the delivery of primary health care in Ghana, particularly the provision of life-saving medicines in a timely and cost-effective manner.
Nevertheless, we have expressed reservations about some of the processes that your organization uses to achieve an otherwise noble goal. One of them is the innovation deficit drone project, which involves sending some of these essential drugs to identified communities. We still maintain that if we had properly fueled our drug stores with these essential drugs, we would be using drones on the periphery.
A recent article, "10 people who died after receiving an ineffective anti-snake vaccine", which has been widely distributed in the past two weeks, confirms our concerns. The following section of the story related to the Web reads as follows:
He said the regional health shops in the Ghana Health Service were providing snake vaccines, but they have not received them for some time, so they are still asking patients to buy them. pharmacies, which cost between 250 and 400 cedis. "
However, our letter does not address the lack or absence of an appropriate infrastructure to receive essential drugs such as serum anti-snakes, but rather the morbid fear that when essential drugs among all avoidable been provided, they do not meet the standards. false. It's worse when these fake drugs were bought by fraud with official blessings. Such seems to be the case of a story involving the purchase of anti-snake serum by your department.
We are through this letter asking you to clarify the following questions for the public.
1. We have been informed that there is already in August 2018 an "international call for tenders" for the supply of 50,000 units of anti-snake serum. We have read allegations about your department's involvement in bid evaluation rigging and overly intrusive interventions in the bidding process. What is your version of this account?
2. We were informed that these allegations truncated the approvals you had requested from the Central Bid Review Board and the Procurement Officer. Both institutions have officially written to you not to proceed with the call for bids while waiting for their inquiries. What is the status of this call for tenders?
3. We also learned that because of the shortage of serum in Ghana, you asked the APP for authorization to urgently import 20,000 units of serum, which we know it, cover your needs for a year. Is it correct?
4. We also believe, based on the records, that you are seeking authorization to outsource to a single supplier through the LPP to import from the same company that allegedly falsified the bid documents and that would have caused the others to bidders to protest. Does this application not show your DISREGARD for the outcome of the APP survey?
5. Is not it true that the World Health Organization is concerned about the effectiveness of the anti-snake serum that the company you would have requested via a single provider, to provide the serum in Ghana?
6. Would that same company, for which you are asking for the right to provide anti-snake serum in Ghana, have reportedly provided the Ministry / Ghana with anti-rabies medicine in its warehouse, as no Food and Drug Authority or Noguchi Approved its effectiveness for being used in Ghana?
We will be grateful for the answers to badure the general public that the Department of Health is not abusing the duty of protection and protection entrusted to it by its mandate.
As always, we remain at your service.
Regards,
Franklin Cudjoe (signed)
On behalf of Ghana.
CC: The Hon. Kingsley Aboagye Gyedu (Minister Delegate to the Ministry of Health)
Chief Director, MoH
Dr. Nsiah-Asare (DG, Ghana Health Service)
Mr. Charles Taylor (Chair of the Central Bidding Committee)
Ghana Medical Association
CHRAJ, GACC, GII, Media, MFWA
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