No forecasting system in government health procurement services

The Chamber was reacting to the Health Minister’s reply to a parliamentary question regarding the reasons  forshortages of medicinals at Mater Dei.

“To make matters worse,GHPS insist on imposing delivery periods which fall short of international manufacturing lead times, and refuses to communicate any form of order planning or rolling forecast to its suppliers.”

All medicinal supplies to the Health Department are procured via tender contracts with stringent conditions, which include that government purchases supplies from the open market in case of late deliveries, and this at the expense of the defaulter’s account.

“The fact that this condition has not been invoked in most of the quoted 48% of cases of shotages  allegedly due to late deliveries by contracted parties, as otherwise availability would have been resolved,  suggests that the actual cause may have well been some other,  all be it late ordering.”

In the second half of 2009 and 2010, an endless list of tenders were cancelled by the department of contracts, the Chamber said, due to minor technicalities arising from “conflicting,  contradictory and unworkable conditions on the tender document.”

“The healthcare business section has on various occasions alerted the GHPS of the consequences these conditions could lead to, but regretfully GHPS would not take any advice. The majority of tenders stuck at adjudication phase were simply self inflicted problems resulting from a unilateral attitude of GHPS and it’s lack of consultation with stakeholders. “