Over $300M in expired drugs in Region 4 alone

The Regional Democratic Council (RDC) Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica) is found to have in its possession in excess of 0 million in expired drugs and pharmaceuticals; and according to Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, no effort is being made to dispose of these items.

Sharma in his 2015 Audit Report, said that physical verification exercises conducted on drugs and medical supplies at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre and ten Health Centres in the region, revealed that there are approximately $315.618 million in expired drugs at these locations.

“The Audit Office recommends that the Regional Administration undertake

a survey to determine the realistic needs of pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies at these institutions in order to reduce losses through the expiration of drugs,” the AG Report stated.

Sharma also lambasted the authorities for their failure to take the necessary steps to properly dispose of the expired goods and recommended that the necessary actions be taken in this regard.

This revelation comes on the heels of recent public disclosure that many of the medical facilities in Region Four and many other parts of the country were without basic medical supplies such as pain killers, syringes and even bandage, making it futile for them to treat patients for minor complications.

Drug purchase

The state auditors also found that of the $226.781 million budgeted for in 2015 for the procurement of drugs & medical supplies for the region, an Inter-Departmental Warrant on December 12, 2015 was issued to the Ministry of Public Health valuing $224.781 million for the Ministry to procure drugs and medical supplies on behalf of the Region. However, audit checks revealed that the Ministry was unable to execute the purchase.

This revelation comes in the face of recent massive drug shortages in the region, including at the Diamond Hospital and a number of health centres across the region.

Sharma also cited similar occurrences in almost all the other administrative region.

Meanwhile, the AG report also highlighted a number of financial and other breaches by the Regional Administration including hiring of vehicle despite the region having its own.

The report singled out an instance where the RDC expended some $9.4 million to hire two vehicles to deliver juice, biscuits and furniture to various schools across the Region, despite having a canter truck and several other vehicles which could have been utilised for this purpose.

However, the regional authorities argued that the “medium-sized” canter truck and other vehicles are inadequate to transport the items.

Living quarters

Meanwhile, the Auditor General questioned the regional authorities over their failure to collect rental from persons who are occupying more than 100 living quarters owned by the regional authorities.

Sharma reminded of circularised instructions which state that for the occupation of Government quarters, Public Servants are required to pay rent of 10% and 12% of their salary for unfurnished and furnished accommodation, respectively, except where entitlement to rent-free Government quarters had been previously approved, as a condition of service.

He said of the 300 buildings controlled by the Regional Administration, 132 are occupied by various persons including individuals from Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) and TOPCO, however only 26 of those persons are paying rent.

“However, from the records presented for audit examination it could not be determined whether those persons who were not paying rent were entitled to rent free quarters,” Sharma’s Report pointed out.

He recommended that authorities take steps to collect the outstanding rent

Under its capital programme, the region failed to execute about 46.3% of its capital budget for 2015.

“The sum of $237.387M was budgeted in 2015 for the Region to execute its capital programme. According to the Appropriation Account the sum of $127.474M were expended, resulting in the Region not achieving its anticipated level of capital expenditure activities in 2015 by $109.913 million,” the report stated. There were also issues of overpayment of contractors, improper record keeping and breach of financial regulations in the region.