…regions get supplies with no documentation of costs
When it comes to oversight over the distribution of medical supplies throughout the 10 administrative regions, the Audit Office of Guyana (AOG) faced major hurdles in verifying that the value of drugs sent to the various regions corresponded with Inter Department Warrants (IDW’s).
A total of $2.1 billion was budgeted for procuring drugs and medical supplies under the Health Services Programme. According to Auditor General Deodat Sharma in his 2017 report, 14 IDWs or requests for drugs, were sent to the Public Health Ministry by the regions to procure drugs and medical supplies. The total value of these warrants was $1.7 billion.
Drugs and medical supplies were indeed received by the regions. Where things went wrong, according to the Auditor General, was the fact that there was no documentation accompanying the medical supplies received, indicating the value of the units. As a consequence, the Auditor General noted that he was unable to account for the cost of medical supplies received by the 10 administrative regions.
“The difference of $42 million was retained in the Consolidated Fund, which included 51 per cent of the warranted amounts for Region Seven and 46 per cent for Region Eight. In addition, the Ministry issued financial returns indicating that it expended the full amounts from seven of the 10 regions, which includes Regions Two, Three and Nine,” the Auditor General report stated.
“However, shown in the Appropriation Accounts were three cheques totalling $144 million that were refunded to the Consolidated Fund in January and March 2018, for Regions Two, Three and Nine.”
Lack of accountability when regions use Inter Department Warrants to acquire drugs is a sore issue for the Auditor General, who has to unearth these cases and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which has to interrogate officials. In April of this year, the inability of Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) officials to answer PAC questions regarding drug procurement issues caused them to ultimately be asked to leave the chambers.
At the sitting chaired by Member of Parliament Pauline Sukhai, in the absence of Chairman Irfaan Ali, Regional Executive Officer (REO) Kerwin Warde was questioned on the region’s procurement of drugs through IDWs.
At the time, Warde could not provide definitive details on the reconciliation from the Materials Management Unit of the Public Health Ministry, as recommended by Auditor General Sharma in his previous year’s report.
“Although drugs and medical supplies were received by the Regional Administration, the cost was not stated on the documentation that accompanied the deliveries”, the report had detailed.
“As a result, it could not be determined whether the full value was received for the sum warranted to the Public Health Ministry. With respect to the warrant of $10 million, the regional administration received a ‘nil’ financial return indicating that the amount was unexpended; as such, the Appropriation Account was credited with the unspent amount of $10 million.”
The Audit Office had recommended that the regional administration put systems in place to reconcile supplies received by the respective health facilities with the drugs’ list initially submitted.
It had also advised that the region obtain the cost of the drugs and medical supplies from the Public Health Ministry so as to reconcile the value of the drugs and medical supplies received with that of the sum warranted to the Ministry. This time around, the 2017 report quotes the budget agency as saying that efforts are being made to reconcile the amounts.
