And while the doctors have agreed to an uneasy truce, seems to us, things are only just starting to heat up in the healthcare system generally – and at the KHMH specifically. Not enough that the Ministry of Health is being battered by allegations of grave negligence at regional polyclinics, today opposition leader John Briceno alleged that the Ministry knowingly ignored recommendations from the tendering committee on least cost suppliers and instead chose to award supply contracts to politically connected friends. Here’s what Briceno had to say and Health Minister Pablo Marin’s response.
Hon. Johnny Briceno, PUP Leader
“Between April of 2008 and March of 2009 there is a company owned by the family of Dr. Fabro where the tendering committee approved $77,000 worth of business. After the tendering committee awarded that contract and it came at Belmopan at the Minister’s office, it was changed to $700,000 of business that they gave without the approval of the tendering committee. And to make it worse Mr. Speaker, there were very late in delivering their medicine and the supplies. A lot of it was of inferior quality and it ended up costing the Ministry of Health and KHMH a lot more money because they had to go and buy this medicine from other people.
There is another company, Best Medical Supplier that won a bid on two lab items and guess what, the Minister’s office reversed this decision and gave it to Belmopan Medical Lab Services Company owned by one Ernesto Franco, a personal friend of the Minister of Health. And to make it worse Mr. Speaker, one of the items, the cost of one was $300 more expensive than Best Medical and the other was $50 more expensive than the other one. There is also the tender for chemicals to spray mosquito Melaton, and if I do mispronounce them please forgive me I am not a doctor. The tender committee awarded that tender to Commerce Limited and guess what Mr. Speaker, the Minister’s office reversed that decision and gave it to the company Prosser Limited on the Western Highway and guess at what price, each drum costs $300 more. It was 30 drums, they fleeced the government another $9,000, the Ministry of Health.
There is another one, injection of propufol. Best Medical Supplies won the contract at $5 per injection and guess who they gave it to: Union Distribution and at what price? $8 per injection.”
Hon. Pablo Marin, Minister of Health
“When the tendering committee or the advisory committee came in we had about eight point odd million dollars of medical supplies. When we finished it by the CEO we came into about seven point seven million. We are saving money.
We saved with one item nearly three hundred thousand dollars. So we are saving money, if you see the books – I can show you the books – when the PUP was in power, they used to spend ten point odd million. Last year we spent about eight point odd million, this year it is coming down. Why is it coming down, because once you put something in process in tendering, everybody will try to bid on it and bring a lower price for them to get the contract.”
Jules Vasquez,
But have you all at all followed the recommendations of the tendering committee or have you all just made your own decisions because there are specific allegations that the leader of the opposition has made?
Hon. Pablo Marin,
“No well you see there are about two thousand and twenty items. The majority of the recommendations we do take but yet there are some things they would bypass and so we have to go ahead and do certain changes.”
Jules Vasquez,
Are those changes made in favour of UDP friendly companies?
Hon. Pablo Marin,
“No like I told you when the recommendation came it was eight point odd million. When we finished doing what we had to do we saved about three hundred and odd thousand. That means it is not favouring. What maybe can be happening is that the people that should have gotten these things are mad at us because they didn’t get the contract but we are saving money.”
And while Marin defended the Ministry’s choices as cost saving measures, it’s not so simple at the KHMH. 7News has obtained copies of invoices to the KHMH from pharmaceutical suppliers that show medicines being purchased from UDP friendly suppliers for prices many, many times higher than what competitors were offering. The opportunity for abuse arose due in large part to the fact that over 50% of the KHMH’s supplies are obtained on an as-needs basis – meaning with the absence of a tendering process. The Leader of the Opposition today enumerated what appear to be very clear cases of systematic abuse.
Hon. Johnny Briceno,
“There is one case again, dopamine that can be bought from M-Union Distribution for $3.75. It is being purchased from De La Fuente Pharmacy at $71 each Mr. Speaker and we have the invoices right here to show you Mr. Prime Minister, we have them right here. There is another one on November the 14th of last year, budopamine, I am not a doctor so please forgive me, the injections were purchased from M-Union Distributors for $25 each and Mr. Speaker from the De La Fuente Pharmacy fifty of those same products was purchased, you know how much for one, $71 each Mr. Speaker.
On December the 5th, the De La Fuente Pharmacy sold the KHMH fifty Hydralize injections at $67 each. Two weeks later on the 19th of December they sold KHMH, the same company, the De La Fuente Pharmacy, another fifty of these injections for $69 each. But here is the thing Mr. Speaker, just days before they did buy of these very same injections from Bradley’s Imports and Bradley’s Import sold the KHMH fifty of these very same injections, you know for how much, $11.54 Mr. Speaker and we have the invoices right here to show.
And there is also the case with Umepreozol, and I know that many of the Ministers on the other side know about Umepreozol, which was bought by Belize Medical Limited in Belmopan for $120 each. Well in this case they could have gone to their good friends the De La Fuentes where they were selling it for $16.50.”
Jules Vasquez,
We have seen invoices that show that the De La Fuentes are selling things for two thousand more than Bradley’s Imports is selling it for.
Hon. Pablo Marin,
“Well maybe that is at KHMH. Like I said before exactly I don’t know what is happening at KHMH.”
Jose Sanchez, News 5
“That is the national hospital.”
Hon. Pablo Marin,
“Yes but that has their own board, they do everything. We only oversee and we give them finance.”
Jules Vasquez,
Are you alarmed at the disclosure?
Hon. Pablo Marin,
“Sure and as I said, if anybody is doing anything wrong they will have to pay for the consequences, no matter who they are.”
Jose Sanchez,
“Are you going to do your own investigation?”
Hon. Pablo Marin,
“Definitely I am going to do that and we are going to do this immediately.”
Jose Sanchez,
“Your CEO Gary Longsworth said that 53% of the contracts are not tendered. Why is that?”
Hon. Pablo Marin,
“Maybe, I don’t know about that. That can be what the KHMH is asking for. What they give us, we tender everything.”
Jules Vasquez,
You acknowledge though that there is a problem from what we’ve seen with those invoices?
Hon. Pablo Marin,
“Well definitely I can see there is a problem if those invoices are the true ones.”
Jules Vasquez,
So if those have to be approved one imagines by the Financial Controller and you say whoever is responsible will have to be held accountable, it would think because the payments had to be made that he would have to be held accountable.
Hon. Pablo Marin,
“Well definitely. We have to see. First we have to do an investigation.”
Hon. Johnny Briceno,
“The question on the minds of Belizeans Mr. Speaker is what will the
Prime Minister do. What will he be doing. Will he listen to the tendering committee with their concerns because of the corruption that is taking place in the Ministry of Health and the KHMH. Will he listen to the calls for the firings of Dr. Fabro and Mr. Perrera. Will he listen to the doctor’s cry for more openness and transparency in the KHMH.”
Hon. Dean Barrow, Prime Minister
“If the invoices and the comparisons made by the Leader of the Opposition are in fact accurate that is not be tolerated. We had already agreed with the doctors by way of trying to resolve the standoff, that an investigation must be done. An investigation into all their complaints form the basis of the further demand that certain individuals in the administration at KHMH must go. Those queries, those concerns, must be addressed in a fair and independent and impartial investigation and indeed if what was put forward today is accurate, heads have to roll. That cannot be countenance, cannot be tolerated.
I am sure that there are explanations for all sorts of things but those sorts of gaps, if they are accurate, cannot satisfactorily be explained in my view and people will have to suffer the consequences for operating or allowing to operate a system that could throw up that kind of discrepancy. It means that there are huge losses to the taxpayers. It means that there is not proper value for money and that cannot be tolerated.”
Jules Vasquez,
It also means there is enrichment of those who own companies close to the UDP.
Hon. Dean Barrow,
“If that is true, I stress again if that is true that they are supplying at prices that are obviously completely out of whack then it does mean that and that cannot continue. If it is happening it has to stop.”
We were unable to reach the KHMH Financial Controller Carlos Perrera for comment today. We did speak with CEO Dr. Gary Longsworth who said they have to scrutinize the documents themselves before reaching any conclusion. He added that they are collecting their own evidence to see if there is any credence to the allegations. He did say thought that, “so far the allegations don’t seem to be standing up” but concluded by saying that despite the allegations – he doesn’t want to exacerbate this process and would prefer to have all parties step back and take a good look at what they are doing and consider the damage that can occur. We have provided him with a copy of the documents we have received to help along the investigation to a conclusion.
