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General News on Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Source: clbadfmonline.com
2019-02-12
Minister of Health Kwaku Agyeman-Manu
The Ministry of Health has denied an allegation that it would have participated in bid-rigging and excessive intervention in the process of buying anti-snake serum.
A letter from Minister of Health Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, responding to the six questions that the think tank IMANI Africa had asked him about it, denied any attempt to falsify the purchase of anti-snake serum.
The focus group raised these questions after reports of deaths due to the use of an ineffective anti-snake serum were reported.
"Our letter does not address the lack of adequate infrastructure to receive essential drugs such as anti-snake serum, but rather the fear that when essential drugs, among all avoidable obstacles, have finally been provided, they are of inferior quality or 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 writing this letter to ask you to clarify the following questions to the public, "IMANI Founding President Franklin Cudjoe said in a letter dated February 8, 2019.
Here is the complete response from the department:
THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
POLICY AND EDUCATION OF THE IMANI CENTER
GHANA
February 12, 2019
Dear Sir,
SUBJECT CONCERNING THE SERVER INEFFECTIVE SERUM, OFFENSES IN SUPPLY AND PUBLIC HEALTH SECURITY – ONLY ONE QUESTION SEEKS AN ANSWER
I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail on the aforementioned subject dated February 8, 2019 and wish to respond as follows:
QUESTION 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? "
ANSWER: I would like to explain that there has been no fraud in the evaluation of bids as your letter claims. In accordance with the provisions of the tender documents, Article 30 (1) as well as Article 57 of the Public Procurement Law 663 as amended (Law 914). A letter was written to two of the bidders for the correction of arithmetic errors, which was detected during the evaluation process. No attempt was made to give both bidders a competitive advantage. I would like to insist that the correction of the error did not lead to any change in the unit price. The error detected during the evaluation was that the bidders should have multiplied the unit price by the size of the package and the required quantity. However, they multiplied the unit price by the amount and left out the format of the package, which resulted in an error in the total price of their offer.
QUESTION 2: "We were informed that these allegations had truncated the approvals you had requested from the Central Bid Review Board and the Procurement Authority (PPA). 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?
ANSWER: Please note that the APP does not approve tender evaluation reports, it is the central bid control committee (CTRC) that does. The MS requested and obtained the approval of the CTRC. It was after a bidder filed a complaint with the CTRC and the APP that he wrote to the Ministry of Health to tell him that the offer was suspended until the APP investigated the allegations. On the basis of the letters received, the Ministry of Health has canceled the call for tenders. This was communicated to the six companies that participated in the bidding process. This will allow the PPA to investigate allegations.
QUESTION 3: "Our additional information is that because of the shortage of serum in Ghana, you have asked the APP for the authorization to urgently import 20,000 units of serum, which , according to us, covers your needs for a year. Is it correct?"
ANSWER: I wish to confirm that the Department of Health has asked the APP for permission to urgently import 20 000 vials. Please note that the Ministry of Health's annual requirements for snake serum are 50,000 vials and not 20,000 vials, as indicated in your e-mail.
QUESTION 4: "We also believe, from the records, that you are requesting permission to subcontract to the PPA with a single supplier to import from the same company, that would have distorted the tender documents and that would have caused the other bidders to protest. Does this application not show your DISREGARD for the outcome of the APP survey? "
ANSWER: The Ministry of Health has completely depleted its stock of anti-snake serum and has therefore requested the APP's approval to procure 20,000 vials from the latest supplier of the same serum as an interim measure . There was no question of ignoring the outcome of the APP survey and that is why the Ministry of Health wrote to the APP asking for approval. Upon receipt of our request, the APP asked for their board's decision and advised the MOH to stay in place until the investigations were completed. Even in this case, the Ministry of Health persisted and agreed with the APP, in principle, to seek the badistance of the World Health Organization (WHO) to procure the serum anti-snake from any approved source available.
QUESTION 5: "Is the World Health Organization not concerned about the effectiveness of the anti-snake serum that the company that you report to have asked an exclusive supplier to provide the serum in Ghana?"
ANSWER: It is not true that the WHO is concerned about the efficacy of the anti-snake serum of the company in question. There is no documentary evidence to prove it.
QUESTION 6: "This same company, for which you are requesting authorization to provide anti-snake serum in Ghana, has it stated that it has provided the Ministry / Ghana with an anti-rabies drug that was locked up? in his warehouse because neither the Food and Drug Authority nor Noguchi have approved its effectiveness for use in Ghana? "
ANSWER: The only problem with antirabic provided by the company concerns the moisture rate. This may or may not affect the effectiveness or potency of the vaccine. Despite this, the ministry asked the company to replace the entire amount. The company has replaced the entire amount purchased, which has been approved by the Food and Drugs Authority and has since been used without problem.
Yours faithfully,
KWAKU AGYEMAN-MANU
HON.MINISTER OF HEALTH
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